Clams Much?
by Kitsune Freak
Summary: This is the humorous story in which Giotto & his dedicated vigilantes come together to finally decide what they're going to name their organization. How did the name Vongola come to be? I promise good grammar. It has evolved into a full-blown family fic.
1. Vongola: More Than Just Clams

KitsuneFreak: What's up with them plot bunnies? I don't know if anyone's attempted this but here's my take on the Vongola famiglia…. Specifically, the name itself. A humorous attempt that I hope you will enjoy!

I find that there aren't enough 1st Gen stories…. Mou. I added 10th Gen at the end, as a little cute omake.

Disclaimer: Don't own it so be nice to me already!

{Badger, Badger, Badger, Mushroom, Mushroom…}

"_Vongola_?"

"Yes, G" the blonde soon-to-be-Primo responded jovially, "Vongola."

With a disbelieving look on his face, G opened his mouth to retort but found himself closing it again. This time, fortunately, the antisocially quiet Alaude managed to do the honors of asking for him.

"Clams."

Granted, it was more of an accusatory one word statement than an actual question…

"What's wrong with it?" Giotto asked, tilting his head to the side looking rather confused.

"Well," G started, clearing his throat, "how should I put it? Clams are not exactly…."

"Intimidating" finished the mist illusionist, Daemon Spade.

Now, how in the world, did a topic such as clams pop up during a rare peaceful dinner such as this? A dinner where all of the vigilante members were surprisingly present at the same time and not hurling water balloons of chaos at each other. A dinner where, despite the glares and narrowed eyes, each vigilante member could enjoy a meal in the presence of each other. And lastly, they all had to admit, the day had been going rather smoothly because of the lack of missions, assassination attempts and lengthy verbal abuses. Of course, dinner should be no less peaceful, right?

Wrong.

Primarily because their beloved leader decided that it had to be the day where they ought to name the organization they had already founded. He saw it to be a good source of family bonding time.

"Well, Vongola is kind of a fun name. It could work, you know," Asari added, chuckling behind the sleeve of his robe.

"Che, only _you_ would think that, Asari" G grumbled, rolling his eyes.

"What? Don't you think so too? Vongola would definitely put a new flavor in the mafia," Asari continued with the everlasting smile plastered on his face.

"Amen to that!" shouted Knuckle in delight before going back to a more serious tone. "Still," he continued, turning to face their leader, "Giotto, what's with the sudden naming? You weren't too keen on it a few days ago."

A silence fell upon the occupants of the room as they all turned to face Giotto. Lampo, who had been unabashedly twirling his fork around lazily paused for a moment before speaking up.

"Finally considered it, huh?" Lampo asked softly.

Giving a hollow laugh, Giotto responded, "—that we're too deep into the mafia to be purely a protective vigilante group? Maybe…"

Another silence descended upon the room as Giotto let out a great sigh before brightening up to continue.

"At least it shouldn't keep our family from having too much fun like normal families," Giotto commented out loud, smiling.

Several snorts were heard throughout the room. Daemon chuckled eerily. Asari coughed as he nearly choked on his glass of water. Knuckle only thwacked his forehead with his palm. Lampo dropped his fork mid-twirl to stare open-mouthed and wide eyed at his boss and Alaude's eyebrow could not have been raised any higher.

In order to settle his earlier score that he tacitly lost to Alaude, G found himself asking, "And what makes you think that this family is anywhere near _normal_?"

"Dysfunctional, more like," Daemon piped up.

"Who asked for your opinion freak?" G retorted angrily, if there was one thing worse than somehow getting arrested by Alaude for ticking him off (G shuddered at the memory, it was _only_ the butt of a cigarette for crying out loud!) it was him agreeing wholeheartedly with their resident mist illusionist.

As a rule in their household, it was ALWAYS a bad sign if you started agreeing with the guy.

"Now, now," Asari stood trying to get between the two bickering men, "weren't we trying to decide the name for our _family_?"

"So Vongola it is?" Giotto asked with a suspiciously innocent look on his face. Heck, you could almost see the puppy eyes forming.

"Are you sure that there's a logical explanation for this?" Lampo drawled, now amusing himself by swirling his wine around in the glass.

"What do you mean, Lampo?"

"Isn't it obvious?"

The light bulb moment that all the Guardians shared at that point was so simultaneous, uniform and bright that Giotto could have sworn he would have been blinded were it not for his trusty cape.

"How could I have forgotten?" Knuckle said clasping a hand to his mouth in horror.

"That the boss—" G started.

"—has a serious thing—" Alaude continued.

"—for clams," Asari finished with a knowing look.

"Oh, is that the real reason why you had our cooks devise any and every possible meal with clams in them?" Daemon Spade asked with a genuine look of surprise.

Internally, everyone promptly smacked themselves on the forehead for Daemon's blunt question. Sure, he wasn't around the mansion a lot because of his power hungry prowls but wasn't their boss' actions (such as making a point to have at least one clam-related dish on the dinner table) a clear indication that clams were food for the kings in his eyes?

"There was the clam pizza, clam stew, clam pasta, fried clam, clam sautéed with green beans…." Daemon listed them off on his fingers.

"How could you not have known?" G exploded with annoyance, dinner, once again forgotten.

"Well it's not like I'm around too much."

"And whose fault is that?"

"Alaude's."

A pause.

"Wait, _what_ did you say?"

A clattering sounded as utensils were thrown down and chairs shoved back to make room for standing.

"Well it's true, Alaude, if you'd just stop handcuffing everyone who breathes the wrong way, maybe I'd stick around."

"Now, now guys, it's a bad idea to start a fight at the dinner table"

"Amen!"

Then again, everyone else probably forgot about their half-eaten dinners as well because nobody made a move to reclaim it when several maids came in to clear away the mess, courtesy of Giotto of course. He sighed. '_Oh, this is going to be a long night_'

Clearing his throat and conveniently calling on the attention of the rest of his Guardians, Giotto spoke up again, "Honestly, it doesn't matter what foods I have a penchant for! What matters is that we need a name for the famiglia."

Seeing the exasperated look on their boss' face stilled them all, mostly because exasperation was one step before utter annoyance. And an annoyed Giotto was certainly a cause for concern, especially when it involved a pair of flaming gloves.

"How about _squalo_?" Lampo offered.

"Too harsh for my tastes" Giotto frowned.

"Speaking of which, why exactly did you choose Vongola?" Asari asked.

"And it better not have anything to do with your fixation to clams," G grumbled while pulling out a cloth to start polishing his gun.

"No, G, it's not always about my fixation to anything," Giotto glowered. "It's actually more of a symbolism thing."

Blank stares and single-raised eyebrows came from 6 pairs of eyes.

Giotto sighed. His Guardians really weren't really the brightest in the tool shed were they? '_Guess I'll have to explain it to them_….'

"Clams have strong hard shells and remain immobile for their entire lives to one spot. Yet, within those shells is the soft core." Giotto breathed in slowly, hoping that he wouldn't sound too hopelessly romantic. He knew he'd never live it down, not if Lampo and G and any say in the matter.

"We started this vigilante group to be the hard shell to protect those that we care about and that will never change," he finished softly, a smile gracing his lips.

Another silence, much different from the first covered the dining room. Worried, Giotto looked up only to find all of his Guardians looking at him with….was that… approval?

'_Perfect_!' thought Giotto, '_now only if they wouldn't say a word abo—_'

"Are you a hopeless romantic Giotto-san?" Asari asked curiously.

Giotto looked in horror as the man who he had once thought was a true friend turned on him.

"Fufufu, who would've known," Daemon commented grinning.

Alaude just smirked.

"Come on, let it all out, Giotto!" Knuckle did not seem to be helping the situation either.

"Aww, look at him go red, G!" Lampo exclaimed, "his color could just about match your tattoo!"

G only chuckled in response, the look on their boss' face that evening would definitely be one to remember. Then again, so will the 'hopelessly romantic' speech be.

"Vongola it shall be then."

[**9 more generations down the line….**]

Sawada Tsunayoshi never exactly resigned himself to ever being the head of a large scale mafia family, but he couldn't help being just a little curious.

"Gokudera-san, what exactly does _Vongola_ mean?"

Gokudera, being caught completely off guard by the question suffered through the indignation of choking on his melon bread in front of his beloved boss.

"Yeah, I was starting to wonder that too," Yamamoto added after seeing Gokudera calm down a bit, "the kid never told us anything behind the name. Italian, right?"

"Of course you idiot! What else would it be?" fumed Gokudera, before his countenance changed completely as he turned back to Tsuna. He looked like a cute puppy wagging its tail at the moment.

"_Vongola_ is actually Italian for clams."

Silence reigned as a leaf blew by. Hibari, who was eavesdropping as he walked by, tripped (granted he caught himself in time to make it look intentional).

"What…" Yamamoto started.

"I know," Gokudera replied.

"Well, at least now that explains the strange choice in food," Tsuna commented, shuddering at the thought of trying Bianchi's version of Vongola-style pizza.

Beady onyx eyes watched all four young Mafioso. Reborn could only shake his head as he sipped his small cup of espresso.

"They'll need a lot more training if that's their _only_ response."

{Badger, Badger, Badger, Mushroom, Mushroom…}

KitsuneFreak: So how was it? I expected it only to have humor in it but I realized that I ended up putting elements of angst in a tiny part as well as a general sense of family and friendship. Mou, why does FF only have 2 slots for genre. Such a pain.

I'm considering on doing a PART 2 for this, except it'll revolve around the 1st Gen trying to come up with the Vongola crest, although, I have to admit, I need a few ideas here and there, I'm running dry. I always did wonder why there was a clam with wings on it…

I hope you enjoyed it!

R&R {although I still don't understand the purpose of the first R if you've already read the story at this point}

Toodles!


	2. A Crest to Remember

KitsuneFreak: Yes! After staring at the Vongola crest for nearly 20 straight minutes, I have been bestowed some kind of inspiration. It also did not help that there are two slightly different versions of the Vongola crest. This one is in reference to the version that does not have 'Vongola' etched in at the bottom. I recommend pulling up a picture of the crest and side-docking it so that you can see how the crest forms while reading about it. As usual, I hope you enjoy my attempts.

I'm working on another 1st Gen fic at the same time, if anybody wants to know. I should be posting it soon after finishing the minor grammar editing.

Disclaimer: Don't own it dearies!

{Badger, Badger, Badger, Mushroom, Mushroom…}

"With all due respect, Giotto, tell me that's not another food item."

G's eye visibly twitched as he looked over his boss' shoulder in order to inspect the scribbling and drawings that were being laid out on a white sheet of paper. It was nice that they finally had the entire family agree on the name of their mafia organization, but what they now had in a name, they now needed in a crest to go with it. It would be a crest that summed up their passionate aspirations so that any person giving just a mere glance at it would tremble in awe – a superb and exquisite embodiment of all that the Vongola will strive to become and one day succeed in. Something so unique and perfect that no level of artist can possibly achieve even if he invoked the help from all the Muses of the universe.

Well, that was the goal anyway…

But here his boss was. Granted, Giotto's abilities in the artistic department weren't all that spectacular but, G couldn't help wondering if all those curls and squiggles were actually supposed to be—

"Are those turnip leaves?" Asari asked while leaning over Giotto's other shoulder.

"Huh?" Giotto looked up from his work.

A sigh.

Pinching the bridge of his nose, G straightened up and closed his eyes in resignation. Silently counting to ten, he dared to open his eyes again and focused his attention on Giotto who was currently looking back and forth between his two Guardians with a confused look.

"Is everything always food related to you?" Alaude asked, making an appearance. He leaned on the oak doors of Giotto's office. Being head of collecting intelligence also meant that he was very, _very_ good at listening in on everyone's conversations. Daemon Spade once swore that Alaude probably had multiple twin brothers posted everywhere throughout the mansion headquarters. Of course, when Alaude heard of Daemon's suspicions he merely shrugged it off and responded with "Well, I _do_ have my ways."

Then again, Daemon was also quite drunk that day. He could have just been seeing double. But the more important question would be why he was even drunk in the first place. Despite being the most power hungry member of the vigilante group, he had a thing for morning glories. To this day, no one really knows why. Maybe, it's because they creep and crawl along the fence and finally, when you're least expecting it, the flowers bloom their vivid hues of purples. In a way, it was sort of like the mist illusionist himself, if he could ever possibly be compared to flowers. On that said drunken day, Lampo decide to frolic in the gardens…dangerously near _his_ morning glories. One thing led to another, and Lampo, needless to say, crashed headlong into the fence that was covered with the beautiful floral arrangements, conveniently destroying it.

When Daemon found out later that night, he was angry. No, livid would be more accurate because he was positively fuming. He wanted nothing more than to vent his barely controlled anger and frustration out on the green haired Lampo. But Giotto…that darned Giotto, had to stand in his way.

"_Oh come on now, Daemon_," Giotto had said, "_You know Lampo didn't mean it. He just tripped, and somehow crashed into the fence._"

He wouldn't have listened to the man, even if he was their leader. Screw that fact. However, Giotto had the clever foresight of putting on those gloves. Those stupid threatening gloves! As much as he would have loved pummeling people around in a mad display of power, Daemon did not like fighting with Giotto as much the next person. Boss tends to be scary when tested. And so, with a lack of better things to do, he opted for a bottle of wine.

But that's not important as of the moment – back to the real story.

"Alaude," Giotto complained, giving his Cloud Guardian an irritated look, "how long have you been eavesdropping?"

"Long enough."

"That doesn't really answer my question."  
"So, is it always food to you?"

"No. Of course not."

"Then explain yourself."

Giotto bit his lower lip in order to hide his oncoming frown. He did not particularly like the moments when his Guardians demanded things of him – specifically the things that he'd prefer not to talk about.

"It was Lampo's idea."

G scoffed a little. "You're kidding, the brat?"

Giotto held up his hands defensively before continuing, "Well, since I couldn't really come up with a crest all on my own, I asked Lampo for a few ideas. He is from a noble background. I thought that he would have some ideas."

"Oh?" Asari commented, mildly surprised. "What advice did he give you?"

"He said that it should incorporate things that the members of the family feel kin to." Lowering his hands he went on, "Although I had thought it was indeed strange that he said 'turnip greens' right before he left. Then again, the kid always did like turnips. Anyway, with a lack of better ideas, I started drawing those first."

With a frown, Alaude walked over to the desk in Giotto's office and picked up the paper to examine it a bit more closely.

"Well, if you arrange these… _leaves_," Alaude grimaced at the appearance of the so-called leaves, "they could work into a border."

There was a quiet pause as Giotto looked up at him, his lips quirked to the side in annoyance.

"Is there something wrong with my drawing?"

"No, it's good."

"Right. I'll take your word for it…"

"But you know," Alaude mused out loud, "you could always ask Knuckle to help with drawing."

"Oh?"

"He'd probably have become an artist if he didn't choose to be a priest."

As if on cue, Knuckle happened to walk by the door of Giotto's office while talking quietly with Daemon. The four occupants of the rooms caught onto a few of the words that were said. The words they heard in particular were 'sinful to kill', 'stupid brat', and 'flowers'.

'_What a strange combination'_ G thought as tilted his head to the side in order to get a better view of the two men walking by.

"Perfect!" Asari gave a bright smile as he hurried forward to drag the two men into the room by their sleeves. "Now you guys can help with the crest too!"

"Crest?" Daemon's brow wrinkled in confusion. "We're onto that already? I'm surprised that you could work through it so quickly."

Giotto crossed his legs before replying, "Well, I was in the midst of draw—"

"Actually," Alaude started, neatly cutting off his boss' reply, "we were hoping that Knuckle would care to lend his artistic hand in the process."

Knuckle' eyes grew wide at the prospect, "Really? You'd let me?" He turned to look with such a heavenly emotion, that Giotto could not bear to refuse.

"..F-fine."

"Oh God bless you!"

And with that, Knuckle took another sheet of paper, sat down, and plucked the pen cleanly from Giotto grasp, much to the former's irritation.

"How should I start?" Knuckle asked, pen poised at the ready.

"Did you put in the turnip greens like I said?"

Everyone turned in the direction of the new voice. Lampo stood, with one hand leaning on the door handle for support while his other covered an unsuppressed yawn. Clearly, he had been napping. Completing his yawn, Lampo sauntered over, making a point of standing farthest away from the mist illusionist. He had been napping in the garden again…

"Turnip greens?" Now Daemon was confused. He had been unceremoniously dragged into all this for the sake of creating a name (Vongola, which he still thought was pretty pathetic in terms of power) and now he had to help in drawing the crest? Much too troublesome.

"Wouldn't it be difficult to start with the… uh… turnip…greens first?" G spoke up suddenly, an idea forming in his mind. "Leaves and flowers are often added to embellish so we should at least leave that last."

"Well, pitch in your ideas on what the crest should have," Giotto said calmly, "I already got what I want, and that was the name Vongola. Speaking of which, don't forget the clams Knuckle."

"There must be guns," G said, a little too quickly.

"How about a shield? We do intend to protect," Asari added, without even missing a beat.

"Alright!" Knuckle began to put the floating ideas onto the page.

A shield was drawn in the middle first and two simple hand guns were added to the sides, pointing directly upwards. Knuckle frowned for a moment before tossing the page to the side and redrew it again, this time with a pair of rifles that crossed towards each other. A single clam facing downwards was perched precariously at the location where the two rifles crossed paths.

"Hey," G's voice was leaning dangerously close to a whine, "I preferred the first sketch."

"G, at least the things still shoot."

"He does have a point there," Daemon commented nonchalantly.

"Shut up freak."

"Anymore ideas, guys?"

"How about handcuffs?"

Silence ensued and everyone stared at Alaude with an 'Are you serious?' look. All occupants in the room, aside from Alaude himself said "No," quite firmly at the same time.

"Alaude, you assume that I'm fixated on food but aren't you a hypocrite?" Giotto asked, very much amused.

"And just what do you mean by that?"

"You're obsessed with your job."

"I don't know what you're talk—"

"Hang on, I think I can work with something here."

Deftly, Knuckle drew two plumes of leaves that began from the upper sides of the shield, falling downwards and looping out. Again, Knuckle retraced the lower curve and added in a few more strokes giving the overall appearance that the shield was supported by the leaves from the sides and the bottom. A third leaf set was drawn below that once more to serve what appeared to be a platform for the overall picture. The priest straightened for a moment, surveying his work. He dived into it again and very carefully added in a thin line that wound its way around the platform and tied itself into a loose knot before winding its way to the other side of the page in order to be symmetrical.

"There, all done."

"Those don't look like handcuffs," Alaude said flatly.

Seeing the connection that Knuckle had been trying to make earlier, Giotto explained, "It's rope, Alaude. They tie things up, getting people into irritating messes, despite the fact that they can come in handy sometimes."

"Kind of like a frustrating person that I know in particular," Daemon commented again, giving a sidelong glance at Alaude.

"Now, now, calm down you two," Asari said stepping in between to prevent violence from ensuing. He mused that this was becoming quite the daily ritual.

"Well," Giotto started again, knowing that a fight would break out soon if he didn't change the subject, "how about you Knuckle, anything you want to add in particular?"

Tapping his chin with the pen he thought for a moment, "Angelic wings would be nice." He got to work again and added two enormous wings behind the rifles.

"That just doesn't look right," G said, his eyes growing wider as he saw wings protrude from behind the rifles.

Alaude chose to remain silent and raised his elegant eyebrow.

"Oh look, death on wings," Daemon muttered sarcastically. "Then again, it could boast an immense wealth of power."

"Alright, I understand, I'll change it."

With a sigh, Knuckle grabbed another sheet of paper and redrew everything minus the wings. When finished, his pen lingered on the clam. His brow furrowed for a moment. He really liked the idea of wings and he wasn't about to give up yet. But… where to put them? A brilliant idea struck him as ink flowed from the tip of the pen.

"A winged clam?" Lampo uttered in disbelief. Sure enough, the Sun Guardian managed to stick a pair of wings on the clam. Poor clam, it found itself airborne.

"Well, it's kind of cute, don't you think," Asari commented, hiding a chuckle behind his sleeves.

Heaving a sigh, Giotto forcibly willed himself not to say anything. "Well that just leaves you Daemon."

All the attention suddenly swerved onto the mist illusionist. With all that keen attention, Daemon couldn't help but gulp a little.

"Let me guess," Lampo started, as he lazily tossed a pen cap into the air and caught it again, "morning glories?"

Snickers could be heard from Giotto, G, and Alaude. Asari's smile only grew wider. Daemon's eye twitched before he glanced over at Knuckle who only mouthed 'No killing' while giving him an exasperated look.

"Well _no_. I was, for one, was going to say that priest-boy here should put vines on the shield."

"Sure, vines that are just like morning glory vines."

"Don't push your luck, kid," Daemon muttered back at him through gritted teeth. Oh, how he wanted to pummel the boy right now…

"Well, that shouldn't be too difficult."

Knuckle put the pen tip down again and curled vines around and around on the top two corners of the shield. Feeling that the image was too heavy visually on the bottom he added more spirals of leaves to the upper end, neatly filling the empty spaces created by the crossing rifles.

Still, something felt as thought it were missing. He could not put his finger on the problem so he looked back at the other six men hovering behind him. Each of them also had their own and (quite frankly) very interesting facial expression of confusion and puzzlement.

"It still seems to be missing something," Asari frowned, looking at the picture. Everyone nodded silently in agreement.

"Maybe it lacks an item which would give an overall sense of power."

"Rifles are still not as good as handguns, I'm just saying."

"Handcuffs."

"How about more leaves?"

"Or wings?"

Nobody really knew what the problem was. Suddenly, Giotto's voice provided them with the proper answer that they needed.

"Resolve."

Once again, Giotto found himself to be the center of attention for his six Guardians.

"It lacks our resolve. We need something that finalizes the work. Think of it like a stamp of approval."

Seven minds raced and tried to work out a solution. What image could possibly serve to anchor the whole crest with a sturdy unwavering resolution?

Frustrated, G pulled out his gun to begin polishing it. It was something he was apt to do when he was deep in thought or bored. As he did so, an idea came to his mind. Snapping his gun open, he poured out a single bullet and placed it on the center of the shield carefully so that it would stand on the table.

"A bullet would be nice," Daemon murmured slowly.

"Indeed," Alaude added.

"Definitely could give off the aura of a resolve…" Asari's mind trailed off deep into thought.

"A will that can even surpass death?" Lampo asked incredulously.

"A dying will…" Giotto contemplated, "I like the sound of that."

"Amen!"

{Badger, Badger, Badger, Mushroom, Mushroom…}

KitsuneFreak: Gah! You do not know how hard it was to find a plant that had leaves looking remotely like the ones on the crest. Turnip greens sort of look like that and they curl too. Morning glories were also a hard pick. Still I tried to work with the new personalities that I gave the 1st Gen, since people seemed to like it.

Just the thought of one of the Guardians drawing the crest seemed so appealing to me and I stuck with Knuckle being the resident artist. He seems like the person who could pull it off.

Although I never intended it, I realized that I left room to even put up another chapter that's dying will bullet centric. Oops. I think I just gave myself more work, ehehe. I'll consider it, if that's what you're wondering.

Hope you'll read my other 1st Gen story once I post it!

R&R {Once again, I still think that the first R is a tad redundant}

Toodles!


	3. Bullets Are Meant To Be Dodged

KitsuneFreak: Wow, I'm on a roll. I never expected to have another chapter. This was supposed to originally be a one-shot! Still, the development of the dying will bullet was too fun of an idea to pass up on. God darn it, because of what I wrote I'm starting to see clams everywhere… It's not helping that I'm going back and reading the KHR manga either. Apparently the box that holds the Sky Rings has clams too.

Are there any other unsolved mysteries of the Vongola family? Please tell me. Inspiration is being good to me and I want to write! (Wao, never thought I'd say that.)

I realize now that every single chapter of mine starts with a Giotto VS G verbal powwow… maybe it'll be my motif. Oh yay! I made up more random back story for the 1st Gen. You had Daemon's morning glories and Knuckle' artistic talent. Now you'll get Asari's menagerie!

Disclaimer: Still not mine. I'm working on that though.

{Badger, Badger, Badger, Mushroom, Mushroom…}

"No really, G, just shoot me."

"Are you _insane_?"

This conversation had been going on for a while now actually. Giotto was trying to convince G to shoot him. And, being the loyal and ever thoughtful right hand man, G absolutely refused. No, the young boss hadn't yet lost his mind in a sea of mafia-related depression just yet. Actually, he just wanted to test a bullet out… using rather…extensive and dangerous methods.

It was when Giotto said a rather ambiguous phrase that caught the attention of Alaude.

"Come on! Just a bullet to the head, I'm sure you've done it plenty of times. How could you miss me?"

Well, scratch that. It was quite to the point.

Alaude, who was strolling peacefully in one area of the private gardens, jerked his head back quickly and stared at the location where the voices were coming from. An eyebrow was raised in confusion; he quietly walked closer to the origin of the commotion.

"For the last time, I'm telling you! I. Will. _Not_. Shoot. You."

'_The boss is asking G to shoot him?_' Alaude wondered, a hint of worry shadowing his thoughts. It wasn't so much the fact that Giotto was probably in a suicidal state of mind, or would have a 100 percent chance of dying if he were shot to the head that worried him. He had no problem with his boss dying. Really. It wasn't like he was going to tear up and cry or anything because he lost the best boss anyone could ever have in the world. Nope. Rather, his worry came from the fact that Giotto sounded a little too happy at the prospect of getting shot.

Peering from behind a wall of rosebushes, Alaude's other eyebrow soon came to join the first and it, too, was lost in his bangs. In the middle of the gardens, he saw Giotto cheerfully (and that was a huge smile too!) pressing the redhead's signature silver handgun into G's hands, and trying to force him to point the barrel at his forehead. G was pointedly using all of his effort and strength to keep his hands down so that it would not be anywhere near the intended target.

Heaving a sigh, Giotto gave a frustrated pout before glaring at his right hand man. He let go of the gun and crossed his hands behind his back. G heaved an exasperated sigh of relief before stuffing his gun in the holster at the back of his pants

"Now, what can I do or say that will make you shoot?" Giotto asked.

"Nothing, you fool!" G retorted angrily.

"But I just wanted to test the bullet out. There's no harm in that."

G looked at his boss as if he had grown another head. "Do you even hear the words that are coming out of your mouth? Plus, how do you even know if it's safe? Isn't this the first set that you've made?"

"Well yes, but I'm sure it's safe, at least I'm pretty sure."

"You're pretty sure." G asked flatly in a tone not unlike Alaude's.

"Yes."

There was a short silence before G stuffed his hands into his pockets and turned away. "You know, I'm just going to go and call Knuckle and even Lampo over here. Now, whatever happens, don't, and I mean it, _don't_ move from this spot. Got that?"

Giotto looked so indignant at that moment that he was left speechless. His mouth only opened and closed like a fish out of water. Still, G noted, at least he stayed put. Walking out of the small clearing, G exited using the path that led straight through the rosebushes. Slouching slightly, he caught sight of a familiar tuft of light blonde hair. As he neared the figure, his frown deepened and he paused next to the Cloud Guardian.

"For now, while I'm gone for the next ten minutes, you're going to babysit the boss."

"Excuse me?" Alaude was starting to feel his irritation rise. He only meant the see what the commotion was all about. Babysitting was not in his agenda, or job description for that matter.

"Giotto's been a little out of it ever since we got that crest made official last week," G turned back to look at his boss who was currently inspecting a patch of morning glories on a white fence.

"A little out of it?"

"Yeah," G turned back to Alaude, "I thought he was trying to cope with mafia depression. So I didn't really care when he started hanging out with Asari's odd collection of animals."

"You mean the strays that he picks up while he's out playing music?"

G stared at Alaude with a hint of incredulity. "Have you seen that guy's collection? It's not like a random cat or dog. I wouldn't have minded too much if he just had those."

"Oh?"

"He's got: a swallow, a dog, two cats, a monkey, a hedgehog, a turtle, an octopus, some wolves and a seagull. His newest one is a chameleon." G finished while listing them all off on his fingers.

There was an awkward silence as Alaude cleared his throat. "Why do you even keep count?"

"Good question," G frowned, "Initially it was easy to keep track of the normal ones, but after he got the wolves, I was more worried of an attack on the boss by Asari's pets."

"And what do you think this has to do with Giotto's…um… condition?" Alaude asked looking back at the Primo, who apparently decided that it was safe to sit cross-legged and lean against the white fence.

"Well, he seemed to have developed a fascination with the chameleon."

Alaude, once again, raised an elegant eyebrow. He seemed to be doing that a lot these days, especially when he was around his fellow Guardians.

'_This could not be healthy for my eyes._' Alaude mused for a moment before brushing it off to give his attention back to G. "Well, I don't see any problem with it."

"I'm not there yet. Three days later, when I went up to check on him as I usually do from time to time, I noticed that he was feeding it. And he's been doing it every three days up till today."

"So, the chameleon was hungry. Big deal" Alaude was starting to get really irritated now. He had better things to do than listen to a story about his boss feeding animals. He turned abruptly to leave, the story having lost interest to him.

"He was feeding it _bullets_, Alaude."

Pause. Backtrack for a second.

Alaude looked back, "Bullets?"

Now this was worrying.

"Yeah, so I'm going to run to find Knuckle so that he can bestow some heavenly sanity on our poor boss before _we're_ next. To be honest, I don't plan on munching on any bullet side dishes during dinner time." And with that, G jogged back in the direction of the mansion.

"If that's your real worry, then why didn't you just shoot him like he asked?" Alaude asked no one in particular as he watched the redhead race away. Still, Alaude was curious so he shrugged and walked in the general direction of Giotto anyway.

Not too far off, dark blue eyes watched and listened to the entire skirmish and conversation. Daemon, sitting on one of the thicker branches of the trees, chuckled. "This seems to be getting quite interesting." If there was one thing that Daemon loved about his so-called family, it was the fact that it never ceased to bring him amusement. Carefully hopping down, he utilized his illusions to mask his presence and quietly followed Alaude.

**Meanwhile in the Vongola Mansion:**

Asari wondered why he was in such a predicament. He had gone to check up on his pets to see if they were all fed and well, but it seems as though Giotto left him an odd message.

'_Asari_,  
_Bring the chameleon and meet me at the white fence in the private gardens.  
Sincerely, Giotto  
P.S. - Don't ask me why you're chameleon is gaining weight. I assure you it's healthy._'

And so, Asari found himself running down the halls with his hands brought up close to his chest and his palms bearing his green chameleon. If one didn't know, they'd have assumed that he was bearing some great treasure. However, his bigger problem was that he was lost. Granted, he's been living in the Vongola mansion for quite a while now, but he always did think that the hallways looked a little _too_ similar.

"You know, now that he mentioned it," Asari thought out loud, "Midori is heavier than when I first found him…" He balanced Midori the chameleon on one hand and scratched its head. Well, Giotto told him not to worry about it so he won't. Giotto was probably feeding it something extremely healthy. He couldn't possibly be over-feeding it or anything. His attention drawn to the chameleon, Asari never even saw the oncoming crash that he had with Knuckle.

"Oh sorry, Asari, I was giving Lampo a scolding for switching out Alaude's coffee grains with ground chocolate. I wasn't watching where I was going."

"Well," Lampo grumbled, "Don't _you_ want to see Alaude on a sugar high? He's always so serious that I thought he ought to loosen up!"

"You still need to apologize."

"No way."

Asari laughed aloud at the thought of Alaude on a sugar high. Knuckle, despite verbally reprimanding the boy, had a mirthful gleam in his eye.

"Oh, speaking of which," Asari started as he remembered his initial mission, "Do you mind taking me to the private gardens? It seems as though I'm lost…again."

"Private gardens? Sure why not, Lampo and I could use a breath of fresh air."

The three set off on a journey towards the private gardens, unaware that G was making his way to find them. Luckily for both parties, they met at the small gate that connected the mansion to the gardens.

Panting slightly, G put his hands on Knuckle shoulder and said, in a manner not too unlike that of a man who's just committed some random and heinous sin, "You've got to help me."

Eyes widening, Knuckle ran through the various possible scenarios where the result would be G coming to him, of all people, for help. He had a few ideas.

1) He's suffering withdrawals from limiting his smoke intake as a result of Giotto's nagging

2) He impregnated a woman prior to marriage and is on the run from Alaude

3) He's convinced himself that Lampo his more of a little brother to him than a stupid brat

4) He's considering to become a priest or monk

5) Asari getting lost all the time (and playing his flute as an SOS signal) doesn't annoy him any more

6) He actually lost in a drinking game against Daemon

Regardless, Knuckle was not prepared for what G was about to say once he finished predicting.

Taking a deep breath G started his story, "Giotto's lost his mind and wants to test a bullet on himself in order to make himself stronger because Daemon challenged him to a one-on-one battle where the loser must forfeit his favorite food and weapon. "

Okay, so it was a little lie because only the first half was true, but G reasoned that if it took a tiny lie like this to snap his boss back into the world of sane, then he'd gladly forfeit Daemon. It wasn't an issue of age-old vendettas between the Storm and Mist Guardian. It was purely for the good of the boss while conveniently getting rid of a rival. And everyone knew how much Giotto cared for his clams and gloves. It served as believable collateral.

Asari, Knuckle and even Lampo all put a hand over their mouths in horror.

"Daemon could never be so low as to do that!" Knuckle cried out, aghast.

"Well he does have a power complex…" Lampo muttered.

"Is this why he wanted the chameleon?" Asari, couldn't yet make any connections, but he was sure it had to be there.

"It doesn't matter, right now," G stated firmly, "We need to snap Giotto out of it!"

And with that the four men tore in the direction of the private gardens.

**And back with Giotto and Alaude (and Daemon, but he's hiding):**

Daemon suppressed a sneeze. He couldn't reveal his presence now; that would destroy the entire point of masking it and following Alaude quietly. Still, he couldn't help wondering if what Asari said the other day was true. Maybe someone _was_ talking about him behind his back. Well, whoever it was, they would pay if there were badmouthing him. He'll make sure of that… somehow…

"So you've somehow managed to make a bullet by feeding regular bullets imbued with your flame to Asari's chameleon."

"Yes."

"And you assume that this bullet, if shot at you will be an external method for achieving your Hyper mode?"

"Something like that."

"Which is the reason why you were trying to convince G to shoot you this morning."

"Well, G is the best shooter I know."

Alaude still was unconvinced even after using his common interrogation tactics on Giotto. By all possible means of logic, chameleons do NOT ingest normal pieces of metal and cough up magical pieces of metal. So what if the bullets were imbued with the Primo's flame? It couldn't have made all that difference… right?

Still, Alaude reasoned to himself, much weirder things have happened around his boss than he'd care to admit. What if there actually _is_ the possibility that if a person were to be shot, they would end up in Giotto's hyper mode?

"And is there a reason why you'd shoot yourself first? Wouldn't you want to test it out on someone other than yourself?"

"Well, I've gone through hyper mode several times at will before but I was worried that since other people haven't then they might actually…die"

"Have you considered that you may die too?"

"Well, sort of."

"Sort of," Alaude's tone became flat once more. He sighed. To be completely honest, Alaude really wanted to look up at the man and exult to the world in the sheer amazing glory that is his boss. However, it is in these bouts of stupidity that make him wonder whether he did the right thing when he joined Giotto on his crazy adventure. He continued to ponder the real reason why he even joined Giotto in the first place when the sound of running footsteps grew louder.

"Hang on Giotto!" Knuckle could be heard yelling. "You don't have to give up on your life just yet. We will find a way to keep you, your clams, and your gloves together. I promise!"

"Wait, wha-?" Giotto's sudden lack of eloquence could only be blamed on the sudden onslaught of confusion caused by his Sun Guardian.

The four men stopped running, leaned over and paused to regain their breath.

"We heard from G," Asari began, "that you were challenged to a duel with Daemon and loser forfeits their favorite and most valued possessions. In your panic, you decided to commit suicide with help from G."

G blanched at Asari's retelling. '_Total miscommunication,_' he thought.

Out of seemingly nowhere, Daemon Spade emerged from the patch of morning glories on Giotto's left.

"Oh? It seems as though someone," he shot a glare at G, "has been trying to slander my good name. I cannot stand by and watch that happen." Daemon got into his fighting stance as he whipped out his trusty walking stick-baton. In response, G took out his signature silver handgun from the holster at the back of his pants.

Before anyone could stop them, the two rivals were at it. Somehow G got the idea that just shooting Daemon wasn't enough. He had to clobber him first. And so it began; the general repetition of G raising his gun to thwack Daemon and, in defense, the mist illusionist would block with his cane. The rest of the Guardians, namely Knuckle, Alaude, Asari, Lampo, and Giotto were all forgotten in the fray.

"I hope G remembers that my six bullets are still in his handgun," Giotto sighed while frowning. "It would be a bit of a problem if he shot Daemon with his power complex and everything," Alaude agreed, nodding grimly.

"Um, guys, I'm going to go back to my room now," Lampo squeaked, clearly not liking the violence presented before him. He began inching away from the crowd and in the direction of the mansion. "I'd love to stay and watch but I'm just going to make sure that I'm still alive by the end of this day. "

"Oh, what about your apologies?" Knuckle asked sternly.

"I'll do it tomorrow I guess. I'm not up for it tod—"

Lampo was never able to finish that final word because of the bullet that lodged itself in his head. Everyone became very quiet as they looked to their fallen Guardian who was shot by a bullet that Daemon deflected.

Simultaneously, Daemon and G's eyes widened in shock as they said, "Oh crap."

As Asari rushed over to check for the impossibility that Lampo was still alive, he was stopped when the boy's clothes, except for the underwear, burned clean off. An electrically green set of flames engulfed him and his eyes bore a wild glow that none of the Guardians had ever seen before.

"Apologize and confess with my dying will!" Lampo yelled uncharacteristically, causing all the other Guardians to flinch. Either that or the sight of their youngest member in just his underwear burned holes in their retinas.

Running over to Alaude, Lampo ran and quickly knelt in a praying fashion and bowed low as he yelled, "I'm sorry for switching your coffee grains with ground chocolate!"

Alaude's eyebrow found itself in the forest known as his bangs at the sudden confession. "You did _what_?" Alaude hissed icily, but found himself without a listener because Lampo had already moved on to his next person.

"Daemon, I'm sorry for sleeping in this area of the gardens again! Apparently I can sleepwalk and ruined about three inches worth of morning glories!"

"Oh no he didn't," Daemon growled at Lampo who, again, moved on to his next victim of surprise.

"G! I was the one who threw your currently missing pack of cigarettes in the fireplace!"

"Come here brat, let me kill you for real this time!"

"Asari, I started the rumor that you wear your black cap because you're hiding an oncoming bald spot!"

"Hey, that's mean!"

"Knuckle, never once was I paying attention when you were lecturing me!"

"I lectured you so you would learn something you know."

"Giotto, I -"

At that moment, the electrifying green flames fizzled out and Lampo immediately lost the passionate fervor that he had just a moment ago.

"Huh, that lasted five minutes," Giotto commented, looking at his pocket watch. Putting it away, he stood up and put on his gloves. Lampo quickly looked around to see that every single one of the other Guardians were also pulling out their weapon/s of choice. Gulping fearfully, Lampo turned back to Giotto who smiled a little too sweetly.

"What were you going to confess to me again with your dying will?"

**A Few Minutes and Beatings Later:**

"Well it was a good thing that you never shot me G!" Giotto laughed out loud.

"No really," G responded sarcastically.

"From what Lampo said earlier, that bullet only seems to revive the victim if they have regrets, thereby bringing the said person back from death in order to complete the job," Knuckle mused out loud.

"Considering how you were foolishly grinning," Alaude started, "evidently you wouldn't have had too many regrets at that time."

"Maybe."

"What are you going to do with the bullet?" Daemon asked, curious.

"Well, I'm probably going make a few more of these, in case they may come in handy for, say, training people in using a flame. Let's call it the Dying Will Bullet because of Lampo."

"Oh right!" Asari plucked out Midori from his sleeve. "What did you want this little guy for?"

"I was going to ask you if I could keep him. That's all really." Giotto responded.

"I have no problem with that. Oh, and one other thing, Giotto."

"Hmm?"

"What did you mean about Midori gaining weight?"

{Badger, Badger, Badger, Mushroom, Mushroom…}

KitsuneFreak: It seems that I also inadvertently explained Leon's origins. Ah well, that's good too I guess. I really had some issues when trying to figure out Daemon's weapon. I didn't know what to call it….

What are other things that need explaining? I'm thinking of the origins of 'Vongola-style' partying and maybe even the rings (although, I'm leaning away from the rings, because that just seems too short to work with, or maybe I'm just not plotting enough).

I'm going to run clean out of things to write about, which is why I'm reading the manga from the beginning (not that I'm complaining). Mind lending me a few ideas?

R&R

Toodles!


	4. Happy New Birthday, I Think? Part 1

KitsuneFreak: Ahahaa, I realized after posting the 3rd chapter that Fabio (7th) was the one who made the Dying Will Bullet. Sorry! Nonetheless, I think I'll pretend Giotto's still an airhead. It's more fun that way.

Vongola parties galore! I checked on a random KHR fan site that said that Giotto's birthday was January 1st. Is it really? I'm curious and a bit suspicious of that... Either way, I'm going to write it as though it is, because it works with my plot better considering it was that particular date that gave me the idea. Footnotes for certain Italian things are at the very end.

Sorry for the delay, the research took me awhile and I realized that I have to go to school two days earlier that the given date because I have to take care of little freshmen during orientation…argh. That threw a wrench in my fiction writing plans. I didn't expect to need supplies that early. I've already started the next chapter so expect that too after minor editing, I felt bad for taking double time to post.

Enjoy!

Disclaimer: Actually, I _do_ own— (is shot)

{Badger, Badger, Badger, Mushroom, Mushroom…}

"You know," Giotto started, eying the dining room's busy occupants warily, "when I said it was going to be my birthday, I didn't expect all _this_."

"Don't worry," G smiled, patting his boss on the back, "this isn't for your birthday. It's just the New Year's preparations."

"I hope so. Because, you know, birthdays are downright embarrassing."

Unbeknownst to Giotto, G's nice smile had taken an increasing more devious quirk.

"Well, I'll leave you to your paperwork then. I have to help Asari and the others out with the preparations."

"Wait, I don't have to do anything?" Giotto's eyes widened in surprise.

"Technically, you should, but haven't you been putting off the last three days worth of paperwork? Frankly speaking, I recommend that you finish them before you desk goes missing."

Giotto shuddered at the thought of losing his desk to the sea of paperwork. He particularly liked that desk. Choosing the lesser of two evils, he sighed in defeat and meandered back to his office. Watching the retreating form disappear around the corner, G moved over next to the dining table and lifted the tablecloth to look under it. Hiding underneath were Knuckle, Lampo, and Asari giving various smiles of delight.

"Coast is clear."

"Perfect!" Lampo cried out and hurriedly rushed from under the table, "I was getting tired from crouching down in there too."

"Asari," G asked, helping the Japanese man to his feet, "have you sent out the invitations yet?"

"I sent them out the 5 days ago."

"Still," Knuckle dusted off his clothing, "do you think Giotto would mind the festivities?"

"So long as he believes that it's just a New Year's thing, we should be okay for the first half of the party."

"Well that's useful," Knuckle replied. Moving over to a crate, he heaved it onto his shoulders. "I'll move this crate of _spumante_ (1) over and set it up on the tables so we'll be able to drink it later. Lampo, do you mind helping Asari and G out with _tombola_ (2)?"

"Oi, you guys," G called out to the other subordinates, "go and set up the chairs and tables in the ballroom. We're going to be hosting the party there since it's one of the biggest rooms we got."

Everyone nodded and moved quickly to help prepare. Once everything was set up in the ballroom, Knuckle opened the crates in order to put the bottles of spumante in neat rows of eight…that is until a hand reached out to grab the bottle that he had just put down.

"You know the alcohol level in these is so low."

Knuckle swiftly turned around to face the person who suddenly interrupted his attempts at arranging. "Oh, Daemon, it's just you!"

"Yes, yes, it's just me," the mist illusionist replied, frowning. "Still, are these only drinks we'll have?"

"Well, we had thought about it and we didn't want to have the problem of having many drunken men running around even it if is New Years. So we settled with just ordering spumante."

"Oh? And I really wanted to see some people drink themselves into an embarrassing mess," Daemon chuckled as he put down the bottle where he obtained it. Stooping over to the several crates, Daemon picked one up, set it on the table, and also began arranging the bottles in the way Knuckle had done so earlier.

"Thanks there, Daemon," Knuckle said, noticing his fellow Guardian's efforts.

"Don't thank me," a frown was soon replaced by a smirk, "you're just too horribly slow at this. By the time you finish, it'll be next year."

Knuckle only laughed in response.

Outside of the Vongola Primo's office, Alaude walked by glancing at the handles of the door before passing. He paused for a moment and retraced his steps taking out a pair of handcuffs while he was at it. Quietly, he cuffed both of the door handles together and gave it a little tug to make sure that the doors wouldn't be opened all that easily. Surveying his handiwork, he smirked and moved on towards the ballroom where everyone was setting up.

…

Inside, Giotto stifled back a yawn as he looked at his pocket watch. It was 5:45. There were still hours to go before new years.

'_Lucky for me, I'm halfway through this mess_' Giotto smiled, eyeing the remaining two stacks of paperwork. He estimated that it ought to take another two hours or so.

"G had said that the party would start around 9, so I'll finish with time to spare!" Giotto told himself rather gleefully, excited that the horrendous pile would be over and done with. He ignored the fact that there will probably be another stack waiting for him tomorrow.

…

G surveyed the hustle and bustle around the ballroom. The New Years preparations were already complete. Now they just had the get the preparations for phase 2 in place. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Alaude walking in through the ballroom doors.

"Hey Alaude," G walked over to the Cloud Guardian, "where is Giotto now? We have to keep him away from this room for a while."

"Don't worry," Alaude smirked, "he won't be out for a while."

Lifting an eyebrow, G didn't even bother asking. All he knew was that the Cloud Guardian was efficient. A little odd in the means sometimes, but at least he got the job done. Thus, no one tried to question him.

**Time 8:35 pm**

'_Oh, it seems I took a little while longer than I planned_' Giotto thought to himself as he arranged the completed paperwork into neat stacks. Stretching a bit, he straightened his clothing before putting a cap onto his pen.

"Since I'm a bit early, I guess I'll go and see if everyone's finished with the preparations."

Giotto strode over to the door and gave a push to the handle. It didn't open.

'_Strange'_

Giotto gave another, more forceful shove and the door only shifted a little bit so that a crack to the outside world was visible, but remained shut. The Vongola Primo would have probably thanked all the gods in the universe that cameras had not been invented in that time period, for the amount of shouting, kicking, and general banging on the doors would have inevitably made for very good blackmail material. Tired after the mild workout, Giotto collapsed onto the nearest couch. Putting a hand over his face, he tried to think of everything that he could possibly employ in order to get the door to give him access to the outside world. His gloves? No, that would melt the door and he did not want that. Jump out the window? He wasn't suicidal, plus he might accidentally miss the bush. Maybe screaming for help at the top of his lungs? Much too embarrassing. He bolted up when an idea occurred to him. Leaning over closer to the crack, he strained in order to see what it was that was obstructing the door. Catching sight of two familiar silver loops, Giotto's eye visibly twitched in annoyance.

"You know G," Giotto said to no one in particular, "if you wanted me to finish my paperwork that bad, you could have just told me. You didn't have to tell Alaude to go and cuff up my door. What if I needed to get a glass of water because I was dying of thirst?"

Standing back a little, the Primo launched a well placed kick to the door in the general direction of the location of the handcuffs. He smirked a little when he heard a small 'crack' on the other end. Man, being a mafia boss had its good points. The breakout _only_ took half an hour.

'_Ah, sweet freedom!_' Giotto thought to himself as he breathed in a breath of the fresh hallway air.

Again, he looked over at his pocket watch. It was 9:05pm.

'_The party's probably started already and the guests have already arrived_', Giotto thought making his way over to the ballroom.

"At the very least, I'll be considered 'fashionably' late." Giotto let out another sigh before speeding up his pace.

Giotto could never have been more correct. All the guests from various allied families who had received a letter of invitation had already arrived. When he walked through the doors of the ballroom, the sounds of formal merrymaking were all too apparent. Men and women stood here and there with a glass in their hand while talking over some business related item or hid a chuckle behind a hand. The Vongola Primo frowned a bit at the formality as he entered but hid it behind an official aura once everyone's eyes turned to his arrival.

'_3…2…_' Giotto mentally counted. He knew what was coming.

"Oh, Vongola!" a robust looking man greeted him. He was the small time boss from some other family that owned a winery. Giotto didn't care much in particular at maintaining false friendships in the name of mafia alliances where only losses and gains mattered. It didn't suit his tastes at all.

'_Where was G when you needed him?_' Giotto mentally thought as he answered the various questions regarding shipments of such-and-such and protection of this-or-that.

"It's the eve of New Years," a voice called out from behind the two men. "Why don't you just relax a bit and put off the work until later?"

'_Oh, right there._'

G stood a ways behind them holding two champagne glasses filled with spumante. Placing one in Giotto's hand, he put his now free hand over Giotto's shoulder and steered him away from the wine boss in the direction of where the other Guardians were already waiting.

"We can't have you loitering around," G started.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"You were late already and we have the New Years games to start."

"Well, you didn't have to go and ask Alaude to cuff up my doors. I would have finished the paperwork anyway," Giotto retorted casting a sideways glare at his right hand man.

G's eyebrow rose in amusement but said nothing of it, '_Ah, so that's what he did._'

Once they made their way and arrived at the slightly elevated area, the entire room hushed to hear what their hosts would say.

Clearing his throat, G prepared to explain what was to come. "At the end of this year, we intend to enthusiastically embrace the coming year with three New Year themed games that will improve the relations between the allied families."

The redhead paused a moment in order to let it all sink in. "Each family may pick up to 6 representatives to participate in the events. The winner will receive a generous prize that will be awarded at sunrise."

"And because we are indeed Mafioso," Daemon continued with a devious smirk, "the loser will be fined a major portion of their fortune."

"How much are we talking about?" called out a random boss in the crowd.

"Enough so that it will be in your best intentions to not lose."

"Right," G spoke up again biting back the urge to roll his eyes at the Mist Guardian's antics, "the first game will be tombola."

Knuckle pulled up a large board numbered from 0 to 100. "Depending on the rate at which you cover your numbers, that's how many points you are awarded," Knuckle explained. "First person to cover all 15 ends the game. At the end of the game, you'll total the amount of covered numbers among your representatives. Choose your representatives and send them up."

While the buzzing of conversation and choices grew louder, Lampo giddily gathered a stack of tombola cards and stood next to Knuckle and waited for people to come up with their representatives. Alaude and Asari took their places next to the rotating drum.

"So between the two of them," Daemon motioned over to the pair, "which one's sitting out because he's the _tombolone_?"

"Asari didn't want to read off all the rhymes (3) so he's just there to turn the drum."

Fifteen minutes later, the Mafiosi were embroiled in an epic battle of Tombola. There were covered numbers here and there but no one had gotten two in a row, despite how impossible it sounded because mathematically you needed only four numbers to do the trick. Granted they had to be the four right numbers… Some Mafiosi were so stressed that they had downed over a bottle of spumante and were slowly starting to feel the effects of booze, no matter how low the alcohol level.

Asari plucked another number out from the drum and handed it to Alaude. Reading the number Alaude calmly recited, "Twenty-two, the madman."

Cries of anguish and uproar sounded again, but one voice rang out like crystal, "_Ambo_. Two in a row."

Everyone turned to find the source of the voice. Who dared to blaspheme against the rest of them and be the first to call a pair? It was none other than Daemon Spade, the Vongola mist Guardian.

"Good going Daemon!" Knuckle commented giving a congratulatory pounding to the man's back, while knocking the air right out of him.

"It was just a pair," Daemon responded ruefully while coughing slightly.

"Still, I thought my mind would implode if no one called out a pair sometime soon," Lampo joked back.

"24, the police." Alaude's eyebrows furrowed a moment before he looked from his number to his cards before also calling out 'ambo'.

Another hour passed with some people calling out ambo for pairs, and even _terno_ and _quaderno_ for three and four in a row's. More alcohol was downed, and the once formal air that hung around was long gone. The ballroom sounded much more similar to a barroom than anything else.

"So…" Lampo drawled, the alcohol clearly affecting him, "you guys didn't forget to wear your red underwear right? (4)"

"Who's asking?" Daemon responded back casually, with not a care in the world.

Knuckle only chuckled as he covered another number. As a priest, he didn't drink and was thankful for the fact that he was able to be sober while enjoying every minute of his friends' alcohol induced foolishness, not that he would ever say it out loud.

"Crap, I forgot," Giotto commented while lightly thwacking his palm to his forehead.

"Really?" Lampo asked, "What color are they? I'm sure mine are red."

G shuddered in remembrance of the bullet incident. Being able to hold his liquor rather well had bonuses and G was able to process most things as they come. Life scarring mental images came back at a surprisingly fast rate. "Do I even want to know why you're only 'sure' they're red?"

"Thirty-nine. At gun point."

"Nice! _Quinto_, five in a row" G grinned a bit, the subject of underwear already forgotten.

"I know I'm wearing red."

Daemon just _had _to bring it up again, didn't he?

"That is just disgusting, you know that right?" G glared.

"I was talking about my shirt. What were you thinking?" Daemon threw a lazy smirk in G's general direction.

"Oh."

Despite being so adamant about holding unofficial drinking contests every once in a while, it never did seem to boost Daemon's tolerance for the stuff. G just frowned and lamented the fact that he was cheekily coherent even when intoxicated.

"Fourteen, the drunk."

"Tombola!" a random Mafioso called out, effectively ending the game. Representatives gathered around their bosses in order to tally up the scores. The Vongola family came out with 73 out of a total of 90 possible points.

Asari found himself writing the numbers on the board as Alaude dictated the scores to him after double checking to make sure that no one cheated and gave a value higher than their actual score.

"47."

Asari wrote down the number obediently, but looked over to Alaude. Once the representative was out of earshot, he asked "Didn't they more have points than that? From what I could tell, they should have around 74."

"I'm not responsible if they don't tally up their values correctly because of being drunk. I only make sure that they don't cheat."

"Oh you're sneaky," Lampo slurred and draped an arm around Alaude's shoulder, effectively causing him to raise an eyebrow before promptly shoving the drunken lad to the ground. The green-haired boy didn't move for a while after being so disoriented.

"Well," Knuckle said pulling Lampo up, "On to the second game?"

"Everyone," G said loudly, calling the attention to all the occupants of the room. Some people had already withdrawn to one corner and began singing strange songs with bottles in their hand. G was amazed that some people could even get remotely drunk on such a light drink. They were going to have serious hangovers tomorrow morning…

"The next game will be throwing old things out from the window (5). In the invitation, we had asked you to bring unwanted and old items in order to do so but we have provided a barrel of crab apples if you have nothing. Points are awarded on where you throw. If you look out of that window," G motioned over to the window closest to the balcony, "there is a temporary enclosure there. Make it in and you win 1 point. Sadly, crab apples will only count for half a point. Mafia bosses can join in addition to the 6 representatives. If you just feel like throwing for the festivities, use the other window."

Surprisingly, the pen was actually a good distance from the window. No one would be able to make it if they didn't have a really good arm and aim for it.

Pouring himself another glass, Lampo was about to drink it when it was quickly taken from his grasp by a frowning G, who drank it all instead.

"Can't have you _that_ smashed before the party's over. Plus you hold liquor worse than Daemon."

"Hey! I hold you better than liquor can."

G shuddered and ignored another set of ambiguous wording that resulted from intoxication. Odd, really how alcohol can make even the sanest people do the strangest things. Not that Lampo or Daemon was sane to begin with.

People started lining up at the window to throw. Among the things flung out were recently emptied bottles of spumante, pillows, pie, small 10 pound anvils (one had to wonder why that was carried around in the first place), some guns and knives, some wedding rings, and even a cat somehow found its exit through a window.

"Let's go next," Giotto told the rest of his Guardians. They too lined up to go for a throw. Lampo was relieved of old forks that he was so fond of twirling, Giotto tossed out overworked pens and empty ink bottles. G flung empty cigarette packs that were stuffed with rocks as Daemon found himself a few bottles lighter and relieved of a walking stick that he never actually used. Alaude tossed out an old set of binoculars while Asari threw out an abacus (he always did prefer music over finances).

Surprisingly, a few families – Vongola included – managed to garner up a few points here and there. Now they had 80 points and were tied with another family for the lead.

Rapping his Knuckle against a table loudly, G called the room to attention again. The 'drunken corner' as Alaude had dubbed it distastefully, was growing larger and louder, drawing less people to the games and more people to the singing. Then again, if the Vongola won, he would hold off arresting them all for disturbing the peace a little while longer. "The final game will be cooking themed."

The remaining sober women cheered loudly and clear minded men groaned. Sadly for the families, however, all the representatives were men because they assumed that women wouldn't be needed in mafia games no matter how New Year themed they were.

"With the supplies provided," Knuckle motioned over to various crates of food and seasoning, "you should make lentils and sausages (6) however you see fit as long as they're edible and taste good and the score will be out of ten. The kitchen is around the corner if you turn towards your left. Meet back here when you're finished."

The diminishing participants of the game hopped on over to the crates in order to start. Some of the women, despite being unable to help physically shouted commands at how to prepare the food.

"Now what do we do?" Asari asked, "Despite the fact that we came up with the games, we didn't exactly prepare for anything because we were so busy with the setup. I, for one, am not actually good at making anything other than Japanese food."

"Seriously? We never prepped?" Giotto asked incredulous.

"Nope," Daemon said, sipping another glass.

"Not to worry!" Knuckle grinned as he jerked his thumb back at Alaude. "Alaude may not look it but he's an ace when it comes to cooking."

"He has hobbies other than his job?" G's eyes widened at the possibility.

"Shut up and get to work," was Alaude's only curt reply.

"So who's sitting out for this round?" Giotto asked.

All eyes trained on the inert body of Lampo, whose face was currently glued to the ground. He had tripped over himself sometime earlier and had not bothered to get up.

"Nevermind."

Within minutes the six Guardians that were still standing found themselves at varying stages of food preparation with the direction of Alaude. While no one said it out loud, everyone, with the exception of Knuckle found everything to be very strange. Then again, you had about 20 people piled into one kitchen. Even if it _was_ an abnormally large kitchen, what wasn't strange about that?

"After the lentils finish soaking, drain it Giotto."

"Alright."

"G, please take over the job of sautéing the sausages because Daemon might accidentally burn the place down."

"Guess I'm not the only one who's noticed."

"Asari, once I'm finished with the vegetables, I'll leave you in charge of plate design."

"Ok!"

"Knuckle, you ready with the mashed potato side yet?"

"Give it about a few more minutes."

It wasn't long before they Guardians finished up the dishes, with the helpful guidance of Alaude, and made their way back to the ballroom with their completed dish of sausage with lentils. A few moments later the crashing of pots and pans were overheard from the kitchen.

"You know," Daemon mused aloud, "maybe we should have left someone to watch the kitchen when we left."

"How much of a mess could they possibly make?" Asari asked back.

"Oh Asari, don't underestimate the mishaps of European cooking," Giotto replied grimly, "if only it were just as simple as cutting raw fish."

Regardless, none of the Guardians moved in order to check on the commotion. More crashing was heard and at odd intervals a family's representatives would come in with a dish of … something that resembled lentils and sausages. Mostly, the quality of the food for the other families depended on the number of women they brought along and the number of aggressively violent hitmen serving as representatives. It was better to have more of the former and less of the latter.

Once all the families finally assembled in the ballroom, a general round of tasting happened. Lampo was shaken awake in order to participate as well.

"Oh heck no, I am NOT trying that," Lampo said adamantly as he stared at a burnt looking substance that was already far beyond the level known as edible. He passed it down the row and the poor dish was met with rejection every step of the way.

By the end of the whole food ordeal, the Vongola family received the maximum ten points for good taste and a pleasing-to-the-eye design. The family that had been in contention with the Vongola was also the one who had created the blackened substance. Sadly, their ratio of women to aggressive men was balanced overwhelmingly on the wrong side.

Blubbering wails could be heard in the 'drunken corner' as the boss of the winery found that his tallied scores only equaled 58. Asari frowned while Alaude only smirked as he saw the poor man.

"His fault for adding the tombola scores to 47."

Asari only shook his head in exasperation before laughing it off.

"Now that New Year's is over with, let's proceed to the second part of the party that will take us to sunrise (7)" G said smiling too cheerfully.

"There's a second part to the party?" Giotto's hyper intuition at that moment sent up a few red flags. He did not like where this was going…

{Badger, Badger, Badger, Mushroom, Mushroom…}

KitsuneFreak: O.o I think my chapters are getting progressively longer…Anyway, I realized that this chapter leans more on the family side compared to my last one which was more humor. The next one will be funnier I hope.

1 = Italian sparkling wine traditionally drunk on New Year's Eve

2 = Italian game that's similar to bingo but only horizontal numbers count (it was hard to understand the rules)

3 = Set phrases/rhymes are tagged onto each number when they're called. I took the translated versions because it would be pointless if you didn't understand the Italian while reading

4 = Red underwear is lucky!

5 = Apparently, if you chuck old stuff out your window, that's embracing the New Year…

6 = Lentils & sausages are New Years food

7 = Typically people pull an all nighter on New Years to see the sunrise

Oh wow, I had to do so much research on Italian New Year traditions. The red underwear thing cracked me up so bad. Oh Daemon and his drunk innuendos. If you actually know about real Italian traditions, please correct me if I'm wrong. I just use the internet to make up for my ignorance. Knowing wiki sites… they can always be… incorrect.

This chapter was too long so, I split the New Years and the birthday party section into part 1 and 2. Expect that chapter to be out tomorrow or really late tonight.

R&R

Toodles!


	5. Happy New Birthday, I Think? Part 2

KitsuneFreak: Hello again! I attended frosh orientation like I should have to watch the little kiddies, and I SWEAR, my school or at least Giotto's dying will spirit is trying to mess with my mind. Or both… The calendar that I must walk by every single day from now on is FRICKIN' CLAM THEMED. 30 clams for 30 days of the month. Not to mention my homeroom teacher insists on wearing a clam necklace. O.o;

Apparently, with school in the way, I will not be able to keep posting date promises. Check my profile, I guess, if you want a dated commentary on how the chapter's going. It's likely that I'll only write a part of my stories after I finish HW. So just know that I _will_ post. I will try to alternate between this story and 'To Reach Across Time'. If you like both stories, I guess that's great. If not, keep in mind, I'm still trying my best to accommodate here. Classes are undeniably time consuming. Nonetheless, enjoy this chapter!

Again, there are a few Italian birthday things sprinkled in so footnotes are down below!

Disclaimer: (still bleeding)

{Badger, Badger, Badger, Mushroom, Mushroom…}

"Giotto, just think of it as a simple talent show."

"G, knowing the fact that the participants are a part of Vongola, it's _never_ that simple."

"You can't be so cruel as to turn them all down. They prepared their talents just as they would a present for you."

"At this point, I'd just prefer the presents…"

Giotto slid his hand from his forehead down to cover his eyes. He really didn't want a birthday party. It wasn't that he had vendettas against birthday parties or anything. He paid for them like any other good birthday boy would (1). Actually, he liked cakes on the rare occasion that he felt like getting one. Presents were tolerable (although with Daemon, there was never a guarantee that they were normal). It was mostly a matter of being the center of attention. Birthday attention was different from mafia boss attention. The former had considerably less amount of control compared to the latter. Giotto sighed as he pulled out and looked at his pocket watch. There were at least a few more hours until sunrise. A little too much time to kill…

"Alright, what do I have to do?"

"Nothing too hard," Daemon spoke up suddenly sidling up to G.

"Yeah," Knuckle cut in as well earning a frown from Daemon, "you just need to sit back, relax, and enjoy the show."

Giotto stared disbelievingly at his Guardians, "There's a catch right?"

Oh yes, his hyper intuition was burning flags in order to get the message across.

G pulled out another enormous board that was ranked from 0 to 100. "Okay, so the only thing you'll have to really do is rank."

"Rank?"

"As in give people the value on a scale from 0 to 100 on how well they performed."

Giotto mulled over the idea in his mind for a moment. It seemed safe.

"Alright. Is everyone invited to the New Year's Party going to participate?"

"Technically," Alaude looked over to the 'drunken corner' distastefully again, "we made a point of ordering spumante so that no one – unless they drank like three bottles – would end up completely drunk and useless. However, as you can see…"

All seven of the men turned over to the rest in the corner, which surprisingly included the women that were previously yelling out cooking directions.

"We have no idea what happened," Knuckle finished apologetically.

"But doesn't that make our partying move along much smoother and easier? I mean there are less people to _interfere_ and whatnot…" Daemon interjected suddenly.

All eyes suddenly zeroed in on the elusive mist illusionist. He looked too smug and proud of himself, actually more so than usual. Cogs turned slowly in each of the other Guardians' minds as they tried to figure out exactly _why_ he looked so pleased with himself – and they were very sure that it had nothing to do with him being somewhat under the influence. Odds are, his mind was probably more level-headed now that there was a temporary stop in his drinking.

"Hey, Daemon," Lampo started slowly. His cognitive abilities had already returned to him, too, because of G constant attention to what he was drinking. "Is it possible…"

"…that you sneakily spiked the spumante?" G finished neatly, giving an irritated glare. His eye twitched suddenly as the wrench known as Daemon was thrown into his plans. Granted, he should have already expected that _something_ would go wrong. It was more a matter of when and by whom.

"Well, to be completely honest, it _does_ make things easier," Asari piped in suddenly.

"While I have issues with the spiking, I must agree, since we have chosen to pair up," Alaude followed after, grimacing a bit.

"Amen to that, Alaude."

G looked up incredulously at the three Guardians.

'_Did they just agree, of all people, with Daemon Spade?_'

It was bad enough that Daemon spiked the drinks but now even the other Guardians were agreeing to his 'less-than-pure' methods? Didn't that always foretell trouble? Speaking of which…

"Wait, if you spiked the drinks," Giotto started slowly, reaching out to pick up a glass that he had recently been drinking out of, "what the heck was in it and why are we not like _them_?"

Giotto ended his little questioning with a thumb jabbed in the direction of the infamous 'corner'. The question suddenly dawned upon the drinkers and Lampo visibly squirmed at the thought. Alaude gave a few light coughs while G put a hand over his mouth in order to prevent himself from gagging at the thought. Knuckle and Asari, being the only two sensible nondrinkers couldn't be bothered too much, but they were curious nonetheless.

"Oh, don't look at me like that," Daemon responded to the tense silence, waving his hand casually at them. "I wouldn't be that idiotic to spike our own drinks and not have a plan, we need to be fully functional after all. All our glasses are laced on the rim with the antidote. As for what was in them, well, it is nothing too harmful. Just an intense hangover, like, very intense."

"Was that the real reason why you were helping me set up the table?" Knuckle asked suddenly.

"Well, sort of."

G sighed heavily, "You really are a lost cause, aren't you?"

"Oh?"

"Now, now G, let's not start a fight," Asari raised his hands to the two Guardians but that didn't stop the words flying from their lips.

"Spiking other people's drinks just so it looks like you have a great tolerance for alcohol."

"My intent was purely for the good of the party."

"We needed those people."

"If you're talking about the gifts that'll make up for the cost of the party then I already took care of it. (2)"

"Oh really? That's good." G shook his head at his sudden jovial tangent. He was supposed to be reprimanding Daemon, not condoning his actions. He cleared his throat.

"Still that gives you no authorization to spike drinks. For Heaven's sake, they're from our allied families!"

"So? Be thankful I didn't slip anything else in yours."

G bit lightly on his tongue in order to suppress his next retort. The night wasn't over yet, and he wasn't willing to become incapable of functioning just yet, especially at the hands of the illusionist. G made a mental note not to drink again for the rest of the night. He didn't want to do anything particularly embarrassing and/or life scarring to his image.

"Well, then, if there's nothing else to worry about, why don't we just get started?" Lampo said eagerly, cutting into G's thoughts.

Giotto's eye twitched a tad at the arguments going on. He really shouldn't have been surprised; this was his Mist and Storm Guardian. They never got along. Still, he didn't want to be pulled in and have his drink spiked too (granted, an antidote was provided). "So what are we starting with?"

"Alaude and I will go first," Knuckle replied with a smile, "just give us a minute to go get it from the kitchen."

Nodding, Alaude and Knuckle filed out of the ballroom and returned minutes later with two relatively large trays, both covered with a white cloth hiding what was underneath.

"We were initially worried about preparing enough for all the guests," Alaude started while setting his tray on the table.

"But I guess, in a way, we must thank Daemon for lowering the amount of people actually consuming these," Knuckle ended also setting his tray down.

'_Oh, so that explains why they were able to agree with the freak so quickly._' G thought to himself.

Once the cloth on the trays was lifted, it revealed a myriad of pastries. Still that wasn't the odd part about them. There were three main types of pastries from what Giotto could tell. There were the _cannoncini_ (3), the _profiterols_ (4), and the _bigne_ (5). However, the latter two were different to say the least. Instead of the round puffy goodness that Giotto was used to, Alaude and Knuckle had somehow managed to shape each and every single profiterol and bigne into a clam. Profiterols were the open clams while the bignes were the ones that were sealed shut.

"Isn't that cute and funny!" Asari laughed jovially behind his sleeve.

The two pastry makers looked expectantly at their boss, who was too flustered to speak. Mostly, he was caught between the emotions of utter joy because of the sight of clam-shaped pastries (he always did think that Italian pastry designs were quite boring) and utter embarrassment because his Guardians caught on to his guilty pleasure so easily (not that it was too hard to notice). He opted for another method of response.

"Why don't we all try a few?"

Several looks passed between the other Guardians as they all shrugged and took one of the three kinds. As each of them munched on a delectable pastry, all agreed that despite the fact that it was extremely awkward (and somewhat terrifying) to eat pastries made by their resident Cloud Guardian, it was undeniably tasty. Alaude and Knuckle just stood and watched, they had their fair share of taste trials during the baking process.

"How about an 85 for a score?"

"So high!" Lampo pouted.

"It's called art," Alaude responded smugly.

"Well, that should be easy to fix Lampo," Knuckle said, "just get a higher score."

Lampo gave a small 'humph' and crossed his arms as he moved away in the direction of Daemon. They had somehow chosen to be partners for the birthday fiasco.

"I guess that means we'll be going next then?" Asari asked inquisitively.

G went out of the ballroom at this point. Within a few minutes he was back, except this time he was frowning heavily while leading along a pair of Asari's relatively dangerous wolves. G did not looked pleased at all but Asari beamed brighter than ever at the sight of his darling pets.

"Wolves?" Giotto asked, suspicious.

"Don't worry! They're perfectly safe, after all they are my pets," Asari responded happily.

"Sure, perfectly safe," G grumbled under his breath.

At this point both G and Asari, with completely opposite looks on their faces – irritation and joy respectively – pulled out two hoops. Their intention was to have the wolves jump through. Giotto had to admit, both were rather good at coaxing the wolves to jump high, low and spin somewhat in midair. All the Guardians watching clapped lightly whenever a trick was performed well. However, it was only good up until one wolf finally kicked up a paw and ran in the direction of Daemon. The second one followed the first soon after.

"What the—" Daemon was cut off because he had to block a nasty set of sharp canines with his scepter.

Asari and G looked equally surprised as well. Apparently it wasn't G's idea to sick the wolf on him, not that it would have been surprising anyway.

"Oh shoot!" Asari cried out suddenly, as thought remembering some important fact.

"What do you mean 'oh shoot'?" G asked quickly eyes widening. He was somewhat torn between running in to try and pull off the wild creatures from Daemon and just watching because he wouldn't mind if the world was rid of just one more illusionist.

"I forgot that wolves have much shorter endurance compared to dogs. They get bored easily. Once their bored with the same trick, they do whatever they really want."

"Now boys," Daemon commented through gritted teeth, "as much as I'd _love_ to hear your excuses—"

Another intake of breath. A hurried jump backwards to avoid sharp teeth. A neatly bitten off curse coincided with the clash of teeth and the scepter. The unscathed Guardians looked at each other.

"Guess he never really did get the hang of physical combat," Giotto commented.

"Sweet, I can one-up him next time we fight. I just need to make sure he's not using illusions," Lampo cheered to himself.

"Keep dreaming!" came a shout from the illusionist.

"Do you think he's had enough punishment for spiking the drinks yet?" Alaude asked Knuckle quietly.

"Possibly. I say it's God's will punishing him."

"Uh, guys, mind helping?"

"Alright, alright, I get it," G sighed as he and Asari hurried over. Each placed a firm hug around the wolves to pull them off the poor mist illusionist. A few moments and leashes later, everyone was gathered around in the center of the ballroom again, including a slightly disheveled looking Daemon.

"So you're finished?"

"I guess so, since they've gotten bored," Asari said rubbing the back of his head sheepishly.

"Well, despite the fact that it was entertaining," Giotto suppressed a chuckle as Daemon shot him a dirty look, "it was dangerous so I'm going to have to go with a 65. We wouldn't want anybody dying now."

"Great it's our turn!" Lampo said with quite the mischievous grin.

"I'll make sure that I get every ounce of revenge back in my presentation," Daemon commented smirking.

Giotto gulped a bit.

"For our group, as a traditional token of good luck, the birthday boy," Daemon started, moving up closer to Giotto, "gets as many ear tugs as his age! (6)"

"In your case, that'll be 25," Lampo finished.

Giotto visibly blanched and backed away slowly. Oh, he just _knew_ this sort of thing would happen on his birthday! This is exactly why he didn't want the party. Expect Daemon to remind everyone of some stupid tradition that Giotto would have loved to forget and throw away in the nearest trash receptacle. He had been haunted ever since his early childhood of the ear tugs. This tradition was for little children! He was a grown man for goodness sakes. Twenty-five tugs wasn't ALL that necessary right?

"I don't think… I—I really… need _that_ much luck," Giotto fumbled with his words while still backing away slowly from Daemon and Lampo.

"What do you mean? You haven't done a single thing meriting luck all night!" Lampo commented, "Remember? You forgot your red underwear."

"Please let us not bring up that subject again, guys," G complained, with the barest hints of a whine.

"Why?" Daemon responded out of habit, "Is it because you forgot yours too?

"What did I just say?"

"Well, I guess your red hair makes up for the loss of luck."

"Shut it before I shove one of those clam puffs down your throat."

"Whatever."

Daemon turned back in order to help Lampo corner their boss. He wasn't escaping the birthday tugs today. And so began the general cats and mouse chase around the ballroom. Alaude had been so subtly kind as to close the huge double doors of the ballroom so that escape was impossible. Knuckle only nonchalantly walked up to Alaude and began a conversation about what to do for the New Year, effectively blocking any of the Primo's chance at breaking through. Asari chuckled and smiled, but for all intents and purposes, sat cross-legged next to his wolves and began petting them, watching the show.

Under normal circumstances, G would have been more than happy to help his boss out of any tight situation. However, this was one of the few times G had agreed with Daemon's unique ideas (albeit he did feel a _little_ guilty, not too much). He, too, sat down next to Asari and absentmindedly petted the wolves.

'_Why did I leave the gloves in my office again?_' Giotto lamented to himself. This chase was frustrating him now. Lampo had taken to closing off the spaces that he could escape to while Daemon continued running after him.

'_Well, their teamwork is certainly astounding when they're not attacking each other…_' Giotto mused despite his sticky situation. However, that thought cost him. He found himself cornered on the oval balcony of the ballroom.

"Finally, you've nowhere to go," Daemon gave an eerie laugh with Lampo giving him a thumbs up all the while. The other Guardians also made their way to the balcony, seeing as their boss had finally been cornered.

"I really hate you guys now," Giotto could only say as he felt the tug on his poor ears.

"One…"

**25 Tugs, Protestations, and Glares Later:**

"I still don't get why we only got 35 points," Lampo complained.

"Do you really wonder why?" Giotto glared, rubbing his ears.

"But we all had fun right?" Asari laughed slightly at his boss' glare.

"Amen, it would be nice to have this again," Knuckle nodded.

"A noteworthy New Year's and birthday," Alaude agreed.

A small light broke through the darkness that was the night. The Guardians all stood on the balcony that overlooked the estate, and a small smile found its way onto everyone's faces as they watched the sun rise in the distance. Asari thought it a good time to pull his flute out from his flowing sleeves and play a small tune.

"Never, ever try that again next year," Giotto complained, still rubbing his throbbing ears. "I don't care how much planning, money, or whatever was involved. I just don't want it."

"Oh fine," G retorted, but not angrily.

Behind them Daemon chuckled and eyed Lampo as he quietly whispered to him, "We'll just do it the year after."

"Buon compleanno, Giotto."

{Badger, Badger, Badger, Mushroom, Mushroom…}

KitsuneFreak: Last line is Italian for 'happy birthday' but you probably figured that one out already. I left that line to have no clear speaker because it's the sentiment that all the Guardians have, so it's just a cute little family thing. Wolves really are harder to train than dogs because of their tendency to get bored! That was an interesting factoid for me. Ah, the long awaited part two. I hope you enjoyed it. Again if there's any change in the status of my stories (ideas, written, proofread, etc.) I'll be sure to let you know on my profile, so you know that I'm actually working on it. I'm switching off to write 'To Reach…" now.

1) In Italy, the birthday kid pays for the rest of the peeps. Not the other way around.

2) The cost of the party is usually made up for by the presents that the guests bring.

3) Cannoncini: pastry that looks like a gilled snail shell, usually with cream inside

4) Profiterols: a type of cream puff, often drizzled with chocolate

5) Bigne: Cream puff pastries except the cream is inside, no sandwich thing going on

6) It's apparently good luck to have your ears tugged as many times as your age. 25, ouch!

The ear tugging is probably something that you do more when you're younger, but somehow, when I researched this, the image of Giotto and ear tugging was just too cute to pass up. Anyway, this is my reason for the wacky odd number birthdays and equally disturbing New Year's. I don't know why I chose 25; it probably has something to do with the fact that TYL Tsuna was 25 at the time. So, as always…

R&R

Toodles~!


	6. Real Men Don't Need Rings, Right?

KitsuneFreak: Chapter 6, another installment of the dysfunctional but sweet Vongola family. Let's see if I got the mixture of humor and family just right in this, enjoy!

Headaches are going away now so I'm glad. My cold/flu thing is following right after so the world's good. You get your stories, everybody's happy!

Jeez, I've been spending so much time on 'To Reach…' that I feel as though I'm neglecting this family fic. No worries~! It's all under control. And the moment you've all been waiting for….Vongola rings it is!

Oh and another thing that's been bothering me. Does anyone have any trouble accessing various pages on FFnet? I can't read some stories, get to my own reviews page; get to my profile or search up certain stories 80 percent of the time because of dumb error message pages. It's slightly frustrating and is not helping…

Disclaimer: Do you think I'd be able to own it if I bribed? Guess not.

{Badger, Badger, Badger, Badger, Mushroom, Mushroom…}

G couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"You did _what_?"

"I want to commission for the creation of special rings that will seal our friendship forever!"

Giotto – it was recently found by the other Guardians – was a complete fanatic of the classic romantic novels and the common themes that were inside. There were the sweet stories of everlasting friendships and it was likely that one could throw in a couple stories of majestic knights slaying dragon-like beasts. Honestly, G had no problem with it at all… so long as it never prodded into his personal bubble space – and by God, Giotto was doing a darn good job of bursting it right now.

"Yes, I know we're childhood friends and all, but is that ring really necessary?"

"But—but you'll be the only one left out then, G," Giotto gave a small pout and sighed miserably.

"Only one… left out?" G's brow furrowed in confusion.

"Mhmm! I commissioned a special design for all of you!"

G gave another exasperated groan. With Giotto in charge of design, he wouldn't be surprised if all the rings came in the shape of a heart for a design with an enormous clam in the center. It really wouldn't have been a surprise. However, while G admitted, acknowledged and endorsed his friendship with Giotto, he didn't want his masculinity shattered whenever he reached out his hand for a shake or wave a goodbye. He doubted that the other Guardians would disagree with him on that fact.

Mafia men with clam heart rings?

Not impressive and or intimidating at all.

"Well?"

While the thought was being mulled over in G's mind, he quickly began laying out the plan to find and combine his fellow Guardians' support and power.

"Have you told any of the other Guardians?"

"No, not really. You were the first person I met today."

G quickly calculated his odds. He had the rest of the day to gather his followers, convince Giotto to drop the idea with as little violence and crying as possible, and then run over to the ring makers to cancel the order.

'_Shouldn't be too difficult._'

"Well," G started, straightening his shoulders, "At least you should tell all the other Guardians. Otherwise they'd be caught completely off guard that you planned on giving them rings."

"Good thinking G!" Giotto brightened up immediately and gave a delighted clap on G's shoulder. G could only roll his eyes at his boss' antics.

"You never thought of telling the others, huh?"

"Well, the notion hadn't crossed my mind yet."

"So you're intentionally avoiding them?"

"Why would I want to avoid them? I'm sure they'd be happy to be able to have an extra accessory."

"Extra accessory?"

"Yes."

"That's what you call it?"

"Well, it's a ring, right?"

There was a moment of silence that paved way for the dawn of realization.

"In other words," G said slowly, "if you hadn't met me and spontaneously told me of the rings then no one would have known?"

"…"

"Giotto?"

"Probably."

G bit the bottom portion of his lip and his eye visibly twitched. Putting on an extremely serious face he stated, "Giotto, when I say this, I say it in the kindest way I possibly can but… you're really a complete ditz."

"I resent that," Giotto replied, equally serious.

"Good, at least we have an understanding"

"Indeed."

Both men stared into the depths of each other's eyes boring holes straight through. That would have kept going on until G decided that it would be wise of him to break the eye contact before one of them passed out from the intensity. It was Knuckle' new plan to settle arguments in a manly and mature manner. Instead of resorting to flying fists and grossly exaggerated name-calling, they were supposed to calmly speak their minds. Daemon and Lampo had been fighting again over something trivial. The sheer mini-destruction was cause for great concern on the Sun Guardian's part which somehow led the entire family into practicing 'safe arguing' as the wise priest preferred to call it.

"G?"

"Hmm?"

"I feel as though something inside me just … died."

G turned back to get a better view of his boss' face and his lips quirked up in amusement at Giotto's comically tortured expression. "What do you mean?"

"I don't think," Giotto sighed, "that settling differences with stares is going to get us anywhere."

G resisted the urge to roll his eyes yet again. Maybe the priest had been right all along. Maybe there _was_ something seriously wrong with this family. Was it too much violence, the mafia, or the unique ways all their personalities clashed? Then again, all were legitimate factors to insanity. Knuckle, in particular, had always been worried about the family's sanity level falling dangerously through the cracks. There may have been some validity behind his worries…

"Anyhow," G cleared his throat, "I'll be off to take care of some business."

"Will you tell the others about the rings if you see them? I have to get back to my office to finish some paperwork."

G paused. Going back to his original train of thought, G realized that this may be his only chance.

"Sure. Don't worry about a thing boss."

Giving a small salute to Giotto, G headed off in the opposite direction. He had some people to find and a Giotto to thwart. G shivered at his second self-proposed mission. That one may take the help of Daemon, and the Storm Guardian was not looking forward to it at all.

Not too far from the boss and his right hand man, a tuft of green hair peeked around the corner. Lampo's head followed not far after as he cocked it quizzically and tried to process what he just heard.

"Giotto wants to give us rings? How unnatural!"

"Why is it so? I think they sound fun, Lampo-san." Asari's capped head also rounded the corner of the wall and both men peeked around at the retreating figures.

"Can you imagine what the barmaid down at the tavern will say if she sees me wearing a ring?"

"Barmaid?" Asari looked back at the Thunder Guardian in confusion before brightening up again with an epiphany, "Oh, the new one that you're seeing now right?"

Scratching his head, Lampo replied sheepishly, "Well, I'm not exactly seeing her. She's just really nice and always hands me an extra glass."

"Well, well," a new voice interjected suddenly from behind them, effectively startling the two men, "so the little brat chooses his women based on how much wine they offer."

"Daemon," Lampo hissed irritably, "wrong again, _unsurprisingly_."

The sly Mist Guardian merely held out his hands and shrugged before crossing his arms again. "Not my fault you have such poor taste in women, brat."

"You know," Lampo started, "I'm not _that_ young in comparison to you all. I'm just the youngest our group."

"Which means you're the brat," Daemon finished calmly.

"You know what—"

"Now, now guys," Asari chuckled, holding his hands steady between the two Guardians, "you should be settling this like men—"

"We _are_ men!" both replied in unison, simultaneously glaring at the Rain Guardian who gave a small laugh and backed away slightly.

"Well," Asari mumbled apologetically, "I never said that you weren't."

Both Lampo and Daemon dismissed the smiling Rain Guardian and went back to glaring at each other. If looks could kill, then both of them would have been to Hell and back several times over already. Heaven had no vacancies.

"Is there something the matter?"

Three pairs of eyes turned to see the approaching figures of Knuckle followed closely by Alaude. The priest had just shut a copy of his Bible with a soft clap and looked quizzically at the group of men. Assessing the situation, he grinned and inaudibly gave several claps.

"I see you're all putting my ideas of safe arguing to practice, eh?"

"Not exactly…" Asari commented awkwardly.

"Then what are you doing?"

"Yes," Daemon pursed his lips, "do tell. I feel out of the loop, because my efforts at curiosity were met with rejection."

Giving another death-inducing glare at the Mist Guardian, Lampo began, "Well, Giotto and G seemed to be having an argument over rings. I think it was like Giotto wanted all of us to have commemorative friendship rings."

The circle of Guardians stayed silent for the longest time as each tried to envision what the ring would turn out like. There were images of simple bands, rings with a lovely collection of rosy colored gems, clams, mini-flames and there was even one with hearts and flowers on it. While the ring variations different from person to person, they were all similar in the fact that each catered to rather eccentric interests.

"This could be a problem," Alaude said, breaking the silence.

"No really?" Daemon sarcastically drawled back.

"I can't accept," Knuckle looked panicked, "what if someone thinks I'm married?"

"See?" Lampo interjected, "It's totally problematic!"

"But," Asari tried, "Giotto-san would never want to embarrass us or anything!"

"You never know what that guy is thinking sometimes," Lampo responded back exasperatedly.

"Actually, you just never pay attention brat," Daemon remarked "he's quite easy to read when he's not in Hyper Mode"

"That is true," Alaude nodded.

"Asari," Daemon turned his attention back to the befuddled Rain Guardian. "Just answer this simple question."

"Yes?"

"Would you, or would you not entrust the life of your fashion sense to the boss."

"…"

"Give us an answer."

"…"

"Asari?"

"Not exactly."

"Good. So I'm not the only one who thinks parading around _in the estate_ in a cape is a little over the top. I don't mind if he does it outside, but inside is just–"

"Actually, I was just thinking about his attempts at drawing the crest."

"…"

"Daemon, you alright there?"

"Same difference."

"Maybe," Knuckle interrupted the silence eying Daemon oddly. It wasn't every day that the Mist Guardian went on a ramble on fashion sense. "It would be a good idea if we find G."

"He's probably in the living room, since he tends to pace about twenty-three times if he's planning something," Alaude offered.

All the Guardians stared at Alaude and suddenly the area around the Cloud Guardian seemed to get a little bigger. He knew just about every habit behind each of the Guardians. It was unnerving, actually. They attributed it to his information-gathering skills. He worked too efficiently sometimes.

**Back in the Office with Giotto:**

Heaving a heavy sigh, Giotto reached for one of the drawers in his desk. "I really hope they'll like it."

His hands trailed over the intricate gold designs on the case that he withdrew from the drawer. It soon rested on the embossed golden clam that served as the clasp and he opened it with a soft click. Inside laid six simple rings. All of them were in the shape of shields. It was actually hard to see the shields because there was a hexagonal jewel set on top. Each ring had a different colored jewel and a different design underneath where the shield lay. Above it all, holding the jewel in place was a silver strip that bore the name 'Vongola' on it.

"Red, Blue, Yellow, Violet, Green, and Indigo," Giotto smiled slightly, "I think it matches them, perfectly."

Closing it, he put it back in his drawers and reached for the black sack that sat next to the box. Giotto peered inside the bag, "I hope I won't have to use these, but something tells me it'll come in handy."

In general, Giotto's hyper intuition was never wrong. He had a strange feeling the day he commissioned for the creation of the rings that there was a small chance that his Guardians might be a little hard in convincing. Therefore, he planned ahead with extra items in case worse came to worst.

**In an Obscure But Lavish Living Room: **

G paced back and forth with his hands stuffed in his pockets, "What to do, what to do…"

The Storm Guardian didn't like it one bit. He couldn't find any of the Guardians on his way to the living room, but more importantly, he didn't know how to break the news of rejecting the rings to Giotto. Hearing the unexpected collection of footsteps outside in the hallway, G stopped his pacing to look up.

"Hey G!" Knuckle waved upon entering.

"Knuckle?" G's mouth hung open slightly as he saw the rest of the Guardians parade behind the priest.

"Figured you needed some help," Lampo said as he, too, waved upon entering. Daemon and Alaude nodded their acknowledgements and Asari was left to sigh, shrug, and shake his head.

"Help?" G's eyebrow raised slightly, "Never mind help, we need to do someth—"

"About the rings?" Daemon cut in, "We know already."

G blinked twice. "Oh, well… that was fast."

"We're efficient," Alaude responded seriously.

Everyone soon took a seat on the two long couches that faced each other – three men per couch specifically. A lengthy silence wasn't allowed to grow between them because G immediately cut to the chase.

"So what are all your opinions on the subject?"

"I'm terrified," Lampo answered immediately with a featureless look on his face.

"I'm still worried that someone may think that I'm married, I'm a priest!"

"Fighting with a ring is inconvenient. In keeping the peace, I must be unhindered."

"I just have issues with the boss' choice of design; it can't be a good thing."

Everyone paused to look at the last person who hadn't spoken and Asari squirmed slightly from all the attention.

"I think it's …" Asari gulped, "a nice idea? I mean, Giotto probably has been thinking about it for a lengthy amount of time."

"Probably?" G's eyes widened as he gave Asari a meaningful look.

"At least I hope so."

All the other Guardians stared at the Japanese man as though he had grown an extra head.

"Well," Daemon pulled two sheets of blank paper from a mysterious location within his jacket, "you're outnumbered five to one. Let's continue with the mission planning."

"Amen!"

Soon the five stubborn men huddled around the sheets of paper as Knuckle was in charge of drawing the blueprints for their ideas. Asari felt strangely out of place as he leaned back into the couch and watched his fellow Guardians plan meticulously every single detail. If it weren't for the fact that they were completely serious about their plans, the Rain Guardian might have just laughed till his sides hurt. But now wasn't the time.

"Okay, so Lampo, when Daemon creates the illusion of a lion in the hallway, you will grab Giotto and whisk him into the kitchen."

A nod.

"Alaude and I will be waiting in the kitchen so that when you guys come in, we will fling flaming clam patterned towels into the air and…"

Asari's brow furrowed in confusion. _Wait, what did flaming towels and lions in hallways have to do with rings? _

"Asari, pay attention! You will need to put out the flames while we're at it."

Jolted back into reality, Asari cleared his throat and suggested as calmly as he could, "Instead of making this really complicated, why don't we just tell him outright?"

G stared back incredulously as though the idea were completely out of the realm of practical. The 'safe arguing' techniques, it seemed to Asari, was creating more stress on the Vongola Guardians than anticipated. If even Alaude was agreeing to it, that would be a problem. Lampo and Daemon were always a little 'out there' so mild psychosis was normal. As for Knuckle, Asari was getting a weird feeling that the Sun Guardian may not be as pleasant as he seems. Either he was also losing it too, or maybe really deep down he was enjoying the increased wild gleams of extremity?

"Are you out of your mind? Telling him outright will only result in having all of our behinds kicked into the next mafia estate! Slightly charred while we're at it!"

"Indeed," Alaude nodded grimly, "if he takes it to heart as much as we think it will, nothing good can result."

Asari sighed again. He had to at least try to be there with his fellow Guardians in the times when they needed him most. Although, this situation was going to require more than just his share of tender loving care. He was going to need the help of a boss – the Vongola boss in particular.

"I'm going to go out for a stroll. I'll be back in a few." Asari quickly got up and hurried out the door.

"You know you're dousing the flames right?" Lampo yelled after him. Asari only put his hand up behind him in response.

**Back in the Office:**

Giotto gave a stretch as he arranged the finished papers in neat piles on his desk. Heaving a delighted sigh, he smiled.

"Today's batch is quite light, how relaxing."

Looking back to the drawer, he opened it again and took both the box and the sack out. Before leaving the office, he balanced the sack on top of the box and carried it out. It was a little heavy, but didn't cause too much of a problem. Shutting the door with his foot, he turned to begin his journey to gather all of his Guardians in one place – that is, until he saw his Rain Guardian running pell-mell straight towards him.

"What's wrong, Asari?" Giotto became very concerned when he saw the distressed look on the Japanese man's face.

"It's… the other… Guardians," Asari breathed heavily to catch his breath. Taking a gulp of air, he started again. "I think they've gone crazy with all the 'safe arguing' and are planning numerous ways to thwart you."

Giotto blinked. "Thwart me? If there's any thwarting to be done, they should at least aim for Knuckle, I had nothing to do with it."

"Well…" Asari chuckled nervously for a moment. He didn't think his words through and found that he had to be the one to break the news to the boss. Praying slightly for the sake of his un-charred behind the only thought that ran in his mind was: _Don't shoot the messenger_.

"Let's walk over to where they are shall we?"

While walking, a long silence passed between them before Giotto asked, "So why the thwarting?"

"They aren't exactly … ecstatic, shall we say, about getting rings."

Before Giotto could respond, the open doors that led to the living room were all too visible and snippets of conversation floated out.

"—No, I say that we should throw the fountain pen _before_ grabbing his cape. That way we can run while he's distracted."

Giotto turned to look at his Rain Guardian who sighed.

"I told you."

Both the Sky and the Rain stood for a few moments longer in the doorway. It was only after a few moments that the occupants of the room noticed their presence.

"Well, if it isn't Giotto!" Lampo's voice cracked suddenly from nervousness, "What brings you here?"

"This is my home too, you know."

"Right. Knew that." Lampo cleared his throat awkwardly.

A lengthy and tense silence passed between the two parties until Giotto finally sighed and hung his head in defeat. When he finally looked up again, his eyes were so filled with babyish sadness that the Guardians had trouble keeping their attention directed to him. Yes, it hurt their souls that much.

"Well, I just wanted you guys to have something so that we could all remember the moments we all shared together."

Nobody knew how to respond to that. It was true – they had been through the best and worst of times together. They fought hard and joked casually every single day. The passage of time could never take that much away from them. At that moment, none of the Guardians could look their boss in the eyes.

"Luckily," Giotto brightened up almost immediately. "I've brought a back up!"

All the Guardians whipped their gazes back to their seemingly bipolar boss. Honestly, he was so unpredictable at times. And yet, each Guardian couldn't help but feel a slight pang of dread.

Placing the box on the coffee table next to the blue prints, Giotto took and unraveled the rope that closed the black sack. Reaching his hand in, he pulled out a simple golden pocket watch and handed it to Lampo, who was the closest one to him. He repeated this act until all of the Guardians held a watch in their hands. They all stared dumbfounded at the shiny golden object in their hands. Each Guardian then slowly clicked open his pocket watch and read the words inscribed on the back of the lid.

'_Givro eterna amicizia_'

"A vow of eternal friendship?" G smiled.

"How thoughtful," Alaude commented and closed it immediately, stuffing it into his pocket. "I could always use a watch."

"It's nice," Asari smiled and placed the watch within the folds of his robes.

"Thanks! I thought it was going to be something terrifying," Lampo joked.

"I am thankful to have received such a kind gift," Knuckle said and hung it by his side.

"Friendship isn't important when you can have power." Daemon sniffed disdainfully but put it in his pocket anyway.

Giotto chuckled slightly at his Guardians' antics. He wasn't exactly surprised but he was amused.

"So does that mean you won't be ordering any rings today?" Lampo piped up suddenly.

"Of _course_ not."

All the Guardians let out a sigh of relief.

"Why should I, when I ordered it last week?"

Scratch that. The sigh was caught in mid-breath as all the Guardians looked to their boss again. Giotto leaned over to pick up the ornamented box and clicked it open. Reaching his hand inside, he pulled one ring out. It had a red jewel.

"G."

"Yes?"

"You will bear the Ring of the Storm: the wind that fiercely whirls about." Giotto said handing him the ring.

"Uh…"

"Asari?"

"Hai."

"You have the Ring of the Rain: the shower that washes everything."

"Knuckle, you will bear the Ring of the Sun: illuminate the sky when all seems dark."

"Alaude shall have the Ring of the Cloud: be that floating one that can't be caught by anyone and go your own way."

"I don't need you telling me."

"Daemon, take this Ring of the Mist since you are the illusion that cannot be captured."

"And Lampo," Giotto handed him the final green ring, "I know your soft personality but be the lightning that holds the harsh strike. Take this Ring of Lightning."

Closing the lid, Giotto waited to see his Guardian's reactions. They all looked rather contemplative to say the least.

"Been reading too many stories, boss?" Lampo's eye twitched slightly in exasperation.

"What?" Giotto looked back innocently.

"Are those clams I see engraved above a little tornado?" G asked peering through the ruby colored jewel.

"Hey, it's a signature mark. You'll never forget who gave it to you."

"As if we could forget _you_, you're irritatingly unforgettable," Daemon retorted.

"Hey, Giotto-san?" Asari asked quietly.

"Hmm?"

"Where's your ring?" Knuckle finished for the newly appointed Rain Guardian.

"I don't think I need it, really."

"I think we may have to go to the ring makers today after all," Alaude cut in.

"What do you mean?"

"Oh, don't think you can make fools out of us and be left out!" G joked and patted the blonde's head. Giotto winced at the violation of his hair.

_God, why did I have to be so short compared to them?_

"I was not trying to embarrass you! Admit it, it looks normal."

"True," Daemon responded, flipping the ring into the air before catching it. "But I don't intend to wear it."

"… Did I mention that it could give you a boost to your overall power?"

The Guardians who were about to follow Daemon's rejection of the ring paused. Power might be a useful tradeoff, and one that they were all somewhat willing to make. More power meant more chances to protect people. More chances meant that they could be proper guardians. They could as well become proper guardians of their respective elements.

Giotto saw the cogs turning inside of his friends' minds and inwardly cheered when he saw each of them slowly putting it on their finger.

"I could reconsider…" Daemon muttered as he, too, slid his ring on.

"It would be best."

"So…" G started, "about your ring."

"Do you think I should put a clam on mine too?"

"Why would you even consider that?"

"Well, I just don't want to be left out."

"Giotto?"

"Hmm?"

"You _are_ the embodiment of a clam."

Giotto spluttered at his Guardian's assessment and his mouth opened and closed repeatedly in an attempt to deny it. Not unlike that of a flapping clam for that matter…

"I take offense at that!"

"It's true…"

"Indeed."

"Amen."

"Besides, wouldn't it be a little vain if you did that?" Lampo wondered out loud.

"Hmm?"

"You did say that they were supposed to be a reinforcement of our friendship right? If you did that then it's like saying that you want to remind yourself of you."

"True… I guess I'll go without it then."

"Good plan." G laughed and clapped Giotto's back, "I was worried that your ego might inflate."

"Hey!"

"What should we call it?" Asari asked suddenly.

"What do you mean?" G asked curiously.

"Well, he gave us all these complex elements so shouldn't we come up with one for him?"

Giotto put his hands up in protest, "No, it's fine really."

"And leave you with all the fun?" Daemon commented, "Oh no, not at all."

"I have to agree with that," Alaude nodded.

"What should it be then?"

The other six Guardians huddled together in order to come up with an equally fitting title for their boss. Looking back from Giotto to each other they soon came to the same conclusion.

"Sky."

"Oh?"

"Much as we'd hate to admit it, you color and engulf everything with that obscene mercy of yours," Daemon answered.

At that moment, Giotto didn't know if he should have wept for joy or stared at the lunacy of the whole idea (which, by the way, he started). He had to admit however, that out of the entire fiasco, his Guardians offering him a ring was completely unexpected – and he was somehow very happy. Knowing that his attempts to hide his surprise were in vain – since they already saw his look of incredulity – he put up a confident smirk.

"Fine. At least I still get my rings."

(Badger, Badger, Badger, Badger, Mushroom, Mushroom…)

KitsuneFreak: I initially wrote the rings in with the shield design before I realized that they actually looked different back in the Primo's time. Whoops. So I reworked it. I was worried that some people were confused with my ring descriptions. So think 10th Gen rings, with an extra hexagonal jewel right on top. Transparent, of course, because we still need to see the awesome designs. Google 'real Vongola rings', I swear the designs are still in there. (Don't roll your eyes, research is _good_!) If you want I could give you the link. You just need to squint really hard because it's so light. It's also $81.40 plus S&H and I wish I had extra cash to buy it right about now. They're just so pretty!

Okay, so the watch idea was taken from episode 188 of the anime, but the Italian inscribed on the back of the watch lid is boggling my mind. 'Givro' is not a word! The only words that correspond to vow are 'voto' (noun) and 'giurare' (verb). By all conjugational rules, I don't see where the '-vro' ending comes in. GAH! If someone is fluent or has a grasp of Italian, I NEED HELP.

Right now I'm torn between writing about Death Mountain, Alaude, or Giotto's gloves. I'll let whichever has more ideas float first. At least you have a head's up on the possible themes for the next chapter.

Don't forget to R&R!

Toodles~!


	7. You Don't Just NAME Mountains

KitsuneFreak: Death Mountain, is that what it was called? I'm pretty sure. In response to Nemesis Jedi (I would have PM'd but I couldn't find a formal account), the translation "my beloved G" is incorrect. Upon checking back the raw manga, the word that was mixed up was 'aibou' which means pal/ accomplice. They took it as 'aibo' which means cherished/beloved. If you want a more in depth Japanese 101, check out my Oct 3rd Livejournal entry. Link is always in the same place under web on my profile.

GAH, my friends are taunting me with the manga. I'm one of those oddballs who prefer to watch the anime _before_ reading – mostly because 1) I don't expect the ending 2) it's cool to see what the author will do post-writing and 3) less chances for disappointment. Now that word's flying around about Gen X in the Spring, I'm waiting for it before reading the manga. Still, I force myself to pick out the parts that only have 1st Gen because it's a bad idea to write COMPLETELY OOC despite personal preferences. As of this moment, I don't know much, but I _did_ see a really cute chibi-Spanner, is that really him from 10yrs ago?

Speaking of which, I breezed over (note: I did **not** read it!) the latest 12 or so chapters of the manga to find more 1st gen insight and I saw a decked-out Lambo. Now, is it a good or bad thing that I think he eerily looks a LOT like Genkishi? Even from skimming, I noticed that KHR gives flashback a whole new meaning… (snicker) And someone mentioned something about a creepier looking Byakuran? On a scale of 1 to 10, what is it?

Remind me again, as of right now, there are only 4 pages in the inheritance arc in relation to the first generation, right? I'm saving on my computer so I don't need to go online to reference as I don't want to miss out on delectable personality points.

Disclaimer: … because honestly, that was the longest rant I have ever made in a single fic. You want to read it like NOW, therefore I will zip it. You've waited long enough.

{Badger, Badger, Badger, Badger, Mushroom, Mushroom….}

"With all due respect Giotto, as both your right hand man and best friend, I am very curious as to why we're all stripped down to our pants – with of course the exception of Alaude who had the most foresight – while you're trying to scale that cliff."

"The sun can get very hot in the afternoon?"

"I think that we _both_ know that wasn't my point."

"Less air resistance if I fall?"

"Giotto…" G called up to his boss in a dangerously annoyed voice. The others, then again, were wondering whether they should point out the fact that 'more' air resistance would be better.

"So _what_ if I climb a mountain every week or so?"

The group below him heaved a collective sigh of exasperation.

"Yes, but was it absolutely necessary to drag _us_ along while you're at it this time?" Lampo whined, slowly edging closer to the knapsack that held all their clothing.

"But it's family bonding time! Weren't you looking forward to it?"

"Hardly," came the Mist Guardian's reply.

"It may have been a little better if you told us beforehand," Asari offered.

"I don't mind all that much," Knuckle mused.

"I could have spent this day doing something else," Alaude muttered, stuffing his hands into his pockets. He relished the feeling because pockets had recently become a rarity highly desired.

Seeing that he was getting nowhere with his fellow Guardians, Giotto nimbly slid down the short distance to the ground. Leaning his back on the rock wall, he tried to come up with an acceptable reason for family bonding time. At least acceptable enough that his guardians wouldn't decide to suddenly get up and leave.

"It's a specially designed training program."

The Guardians before him cast wary glances back and forth between each other but did not lose the feeling that their boss was just buying another round of time and excuses.

"But Giotto-san," Asari ventured first, "we all already have our own methods of training, remember? I have the place that looks like a Japanese-style dojo, G and Knuckle have their target-strength practice thing, and well… "

The man looked at the other three who stood aloof. "I'm not sure what the others do, but I'm sure they practice!"

"Exactly," Lampo ended with a satisfied nod. Then he looked quite perturbed as the words registered in his mind. "Wait a second—"

"—which is why I am offering my special training program for Alaude, Lampo, and, of course, Daemon," Giotto cut it neatly.

"I don't recall asking for help," Alaude asked, irritated.

"I must second that," Daemon nodded.

"Well, I came to the conclusion for three very valid reasons." Giotto cleared his throat has he began listing them off on his fingers. "First of all, Daemon, your natural strength is ridiculously low compared to the rest of us."

"May I point out that it is due to the fact that I am an illusionist whose skills of the mind are most highly prized?"

"Second," the boss continued, completely ignoring his Mist Guardian's protestations, "Alaude's choice in weapon, handcuffs, is not what I'd call useless but is still relatively questionable."

His Cloud Guardian's response was only an unsuccessfully contained twitch of the eye.

"And third, Lampo…" Giotto eyed the yawning man, "you really need a better way to spend your afternoons. I don't think lazing around is healthy."

"It's called training. Very intense, I assure you."

"I somehow doubt that."

G clapped his hands in the air to the left side of his head to attract his peers' attention, "Um, guys? Back to the main problem? We're still cold here."

"Well, that was a necessary precaution."

"And may I ask why?"

"Trekking through rough terrain for at least a day will result in tears. I realized this the first time I came here. It also gets really warm in the afternoon."

"Wait, back up," Lampo started slowly, "you mean to say that we're going to be spending the entire _day_ with you on this _mountain_?"

"Seems like it," Asari grinned.

"May the Lord bless us on our journey."

"No, stop the blessings!" Daemon swung his scepter meaningfully at the priest.

"Is there something wrong, Daemon?" Giotto asked innocently.

"Yes, many things – most of which involve us on this uncharted mountain terrain and trekking _together_ when _I_ could be doing something better. One such example would be securing legions of allies who would listen to my every command unflinchingly. "

"Are you afraid?" G asked suddenly, smirking.

Now, to be certain, G was normally a logical man. This meant that he did not particularly look forward to fanatical training sessions on dangerous uncharted mountainsides. However, he was also a man who disliked the Vongola Mist Guardian with a passion. In other words, G would take each and every opportunity if it meant being able to one-up the accursed Daemon Spade while defying such normal conventions of logic.

"Of course not, who would be? I just have little time to waste."

"Well, you ought to be considerate. After all, our devoted boss especially designed this course to build up _your_ strength and stamina." G paused to let the message sink in.

"Correction," Daemon chided back, "Alaude and the brat are also on the list."

"Don't group me with your pathetic weakness of strength," Alaude said glaring at Daemon.

"Hey, Daemon's the weak one here, not me!" Lampo cut into the fray as well.

The Storm and Mist Guardian continued to bicker back and forth with occasional commentary offered by the Lightning and the Cloud Guardians. Surprisingly, Giotto did nothing to stop the conflict at hand; rather he was very amused and settled himself comfortably on a nearby boulder to watch the show. A little further away, Asari leaned forward towards Knuckle to converse in secretive whispers.

"Am I not the only one in thinking that Giotto-san just came up with that as an excuse to get us all to come out and spend time with each other?"

"Amen my friend. It doesn't surprise me that Giotto has come up with another family bonding scheme," Knuckle whispered back grinning.

Inevitably, the hubbub caused by the bickering Guardians slowly died down because of the lack of words and insults to hurl at each other. Giotto took this as his cue to stand up once again and exude an authoritative aura that commanded immeasurable respect and obedience. For lack of better things to do (i.e. continuing to insult and/or glare at each other) all the Guardians gave their undivided attention.

"Now, here is the first task of the training course. Climb this side of the cliff with nothing but your bare hands."

"You can't be serious," Lampo complained.

"No," Giotto nodded his head knowingly, "I'm dead serious."

"You will be when I'm through," Daemon said through gritted teeth. He did not like the workout that loomed ahead of him one bit.

Slowly each of the Guardians made their way to the rocky wall. Those who opposed the entire notion of family bonding-training time grumbled much more in comparison to the ones who were okay with it.

"Hey _Mist_ Guardian!" G called down. "Make sure you don't fall, it would be a terrible loss."

"I have a name too you know."

"Hey Daemon?—"

"It's Mist Guardian to you, brat!"

Lampo rolled his eyes at the man's fickle choice in names. He really never understood the double standards that seemed to apply to him. "Anyway, can you stop kicking pebbles down? They're getting in the way of me climbing."

"It's practice. Learn to avoid them, dodging is a good start. Then again, the world is better off if it were rid of one more powerless individual."

Lampo could only sigh. It seemed that the day was getting longer despite the continual passage of time. Giotto on the other hand bit back a smile. He brought up the rear (he had to make sure that nobody avoided the so-called training session) and therefore was able to hear every snippet of conversation quite clearly.

"I told you those could have killed me!"

"Guys, this really isn't the best time"

"Children, do I have to come down and instill the wrath of God?"

"Not my God."

"_Daemon_…"

"Hey who threw that?"

"Wasn't me."

"G, when I come up there you'll regret ever knowing me"

"Too late."

In the course of two-plus hours, the Guardians taxingly heaved themselves over the side of the rocky precipice. Thankfully, no number of slippery rocks, dangerously (and strangely accurate) falling boulders, attempted murders, and insults could stop these men from their goal of reaching the top.

"So, Giotto-san, what's next on the list?" Asari asked, curious. He seemed unaware of three pairs of eyes glaring at the back of his head, willing him to keel over, dead.

"We should all take a break!"

"And?" G motioned his hands in a cyclical motion to facilitate the coming of more tasks to complete but was met with…

"Well, I haven't planned that part yet."

Cue the face palm from G, the wide eyes from Lampo and Daemon, the glare from Alaude, and the smiles from Asari and Knuckle.

"You haven't…" G took a deep breath in an attempt to prevent himself from yelling at the man whom he considered his best friend – scratch that – make that his youngest brother.

Willing his face into one of solemn skepticism, he continued, "You mean to say that you had us climb this mountain first—"

"That's right"

"—and when we finally reached the top—"

"Yes?"

"—you say you have no idea what the next step is?"

"Exactly!"

"Oh dear," G buried his face in his hands for the fifth time that day (the first four were made during the trek _to_ the uncharted mountain). Sometimes he really wondered what enabled the Vongola to function properly. Oh right. Him – the only beacon of sanity… or so he thought.

"Well," Asari started, "considering that we're already up here, we might as well keep going."

"Indeed," Knuckle agreed, "it's already past noon and we should at least head towards the more forested part over there to get some shade from the sun."

"Besides," Giotto took this as his moment to reassert his sensibility, "the trek down to the mountain – if we go the way we came – takes at least three times the time it took us to get up here."

All eyes turned towards Giotto as he finished his comment. The Vongola boss shifted the weight of the knapsack from one shoulder to the next uneasily.

"Really?" Alaude ventured, seemingly unfazed.

"Yeah."

"That's illogical."

"Unless you want to jump, but I don't recommend that."

"Wise choice."

"Why thank you."

'_I was being sarcastic…_' Alaude thought to himself. The taciturn young man irritably realized that his boss was one who took things only at face value. Well, surely _he_ wasn't going to be the first one to complain out loud.

Bored with the conversation at hand, Lampo began to stroll at a leisurely pace towards the forest.

"While you lose you minds in the sun, I'm going for shade."

"Guess we should at least start looking for things like firewood if we're going to be settling here for a while," Asari added.

"I call the job of watching over the fire after it's made," Lampo called back. A hand darted out the grab Lampo's cranium very securely and turned the green haired man to face the rest of them.

"Oh, hi Daemon."

"You're not going to be watching any fire. Get firewood like the rest of us."

"Then let's split up into groups," Giotto called out. "Daemon, you go with Lampo. Alaude can be with G… Asari and I will be with Knuckle. Let's meet back here later. It goes without saying that if you find food or something, you should bring it back."

"Can I switch partners?" Lampo complained while raising his right hand high – his left was trying in vain to pry his head from Daemon's firm grip. Seeing that he was being ignored, the green haired man frowned and sulked after Daemon. Each group parted ways to complete their second daunting task.

After walking for several minutes and gathering quite a few small branches, Lampo's boredom-induced thought process struck a jackpot long abandoned.

"Hey Daemon?"

"Hmm?"

"If the boss has all our clothes in the knapsack that he's carrying… then why in the world are we running around topless while Alaude gets the benefits of upper-wear?"

Daemon stopped in his tracks. Lampo was not so lucky in pulling the brakes. He ran right into the Mist Guardian, fell backwards and dropped all his hard-earned branches in an unseemly manner.

"Hey! Don't stop so randomly!"

"You're right…" Daemon thought over the matter for moment. "That fool of a boss must've been too terrified to confront Alaude about the subject. Pathetic."

"It still doesn't make it fair, you know."

"We must strip him of his iniquitous privilege!" Daemon declared with a fist pump into the air.

"And how do you suppose we do that?" Lampo twirled the smallest branch around in the air and looked up at the illusionist.

Daemon Spade grinned wickedly.

"I have a plan."

Meanwhile, in another forested location, G and Alaude decided that it would be better if instead of collecting firewood, they searched for food instead. Even though G was the best sharpshooter around, when it came to getting food, he had some minor difficulties.

"So, which of these fruit-berry-things were edible again?" G asked, eyeing the suspiciously white orbs glinting from within the bushes. Not too far from it were grapelike clumps of blue-black berries.

Alaude gave an inaudible sigh, "The orange ones."

"And these are?"

"Poisonous."

"Of course."

The continued gathering the fruits in silence. Unused to the intensity of the quiet, G tried to break the silence.

"So the white and dark ones can really kill you, huh?"

"Would you like to try?"

"No, just curious."

The silence lingered for a little while longer before Alaude obligingly continued the conversation, albeit somewhat grudgingly.

"The black ones are privet berries and the white ones are baneberries."

"How bad are they?"

"Well, privet berries can lead to excessive vomiting. The baneberries result in acute stomach cramps, headaches, vomiting, general delirium and probably death."

"So if worse comes to worst, I can still try the privet berries."

Alaude raised an eyebrow and stared back at the Storm Guardian.

"Pardon me?"

"Nothing, don't mind me."

"Right," Alaude deliberately avoided thinking about what the earlier comment was meant to be about because he honestly didn't care. Really. Still, he made mental notes to check the color of his food that night, just in case. Looking up from his work, he saw G examine a branch of black berries, different from the first set. However, the redhead tossed it aside.

"What are you doing?"

"I thought those were poisonous?"

"Those were elderberries."

"Oh, my mistake," G picked up and dusted off the questionable fruit and held it up to Alaude. "Five second rule?"

Alaude only rolled his eyes and shrugged.

In the meantime, in yet another location of the forest, the final trio made their way through the forest. Luckily for them, one particular member of their group had hiked through the uncharted mountain.

"The pond should be up ahead. We could catch fish up there."

"Good thinking, Giotto-san."

"What about the firewood?" Knuckle asked curiously.

"Odds are, Daemon and Lampo are the only ones actually doing what we asked," Giotto mused.

Asari chuckled, "Despite their noticeable reluctance, it always seems to happen that way, doesn't it?"

"Yes, although I'm getting a strange feeling that they're up to no good and planning again…"

"Is it your hyper intuition?" Knuckle asked worriedly.

"Doesn't really take a genius to know that they're _always_ up to no good," the blond man deadpanned, absentmindedly rubbing his ears.

They reached the pond soon after their conversation quieted down. Luckily for them, Asari brought along his two short swords. Needless to say, it facilitated the retrieval of food. Considering the fact that Giotto had been to the mountain several times, the entire fishing process was relatively uneventful and they surprisingly managed to catch enough so that everyone was able to munch on a scrumptious sea creature. Upon returning to the prearranged spot at the edge of the forest, they saw the dancing flickers of a small fire. The other four had already arrived and sat around the fire, slowly feeding it small branches.

"Took you long enough," Lampo called out lazily.

"I see you started the fire," Knuckle commented, gazing at the flames.

"It would have been easier if Giotto was around though," G added, puffing on a cigarette.

"G," Giotto reprimanded, "Put that out, already."

"I promise not to burn the forest."

"I'm all for it," Daemon smirked. "Please continue smoking, I don't mind really."

Twitching slightly, G gave a sidelong glance at the illusionist before tossing the remainder of his cigarette into the fire.

Daemon gave a dramatic sigh, "Oh, and here I was hoping that I would be entertained with a bonfire tonight."

"In your dreams, freak"

"I may just have to resort to that."

"Now, now guys cut it out," Asari strode over in order to prevent them from lashing out against each other again.

Rolling his eyes at the men squabbling next to him, Alaude directed his attention to his boss.

"With all due respect, Giotto, do you mind telling me how to get off this mountain? It's getting irritably noisy."

Looking back towards the barely setting sun, Giotto replied, "Well, I'll tell you tomorrow, it's close to night and wandering around like that is a bad idea."

"Do you take me for a weakling?"

"Not really."

Alaude blinked before muttering to himself, "Not… Really?"

But before he could command the attention of the Vongola boss again with an awe-inspiring comment, the said man shoved a leaf-wrapped bundle of fish into his arms.

"So, since you're the most able one of us when it comes to the kitchen, do you mind preparing dinner?"

"Actually, I –"

"Good!" Giotto clapped his hands together contentedly. "I knew we could agree on something!"

Alaude contemplated that he could seriously use some of those privet berries right about now. Maybe some in his fish…?

Unbeknownst to the two men, a pair of green eyes watched intently, waiting for the perfect moment to give the signal to his partner in crime to put their diabolical plan in action.

"If I had a knife and running water—"

"Asari can lend you one of his swords. If it helps, there's a brook, a little ways from here."

Alaude stared back at his boss in muted resentment. The man gave him no loopholes to not complete the job and that was frustrating for one who usually had his way.

'_A brook and fish cleaning?_' Lampo thought to himself. This could work out better than they had planned.

Nudging Daemon's elbow, they passed knowing looks and waited for Alaude to wander off to complete the task of making dinner. However, they needed to excuse themselves in order to attend to the matter,

"Um, we'll be leaving for a moment," Daemon said, standing up beside Lampo.

"Oh?" Knuckle raised an eyebrow, looking amused.

"Yes, we have… very…important things to settle."

"Like what?" Giotto looked up from his work of building up the fire.

"It doesn't matter," Daemon finished curtly.

"But Daemon, you just said it was important," Giotto smiled sweetly, "therefore it _does_ matter."

"Not to you."

"So what are we talking about?" Now Asari's curiosity was piqued too. G didn't even bother looking up from separating the fruits they gathered.

The intensely inquisitive and saccharine gazes of the three most amiable Guardians were intimidating. But Daemon was never going to cave in to such pathetic simple tricks. Oh no. If they wanted the information they would have to beat it out of him. Just who did they think they were? So what if they were Guardians of the Vongola family, it didn't matter because he was one too and there was no way that he would ever even come close to te—

"Alaude needs to be topless like the rest of us so it's fair."

Oh right, he forgot about Lampo.

THWACK.

"Ow! Jeez Daemon, what was that for?" Lampo asked rubbing his throbbing head. He was sure there was going to be a bump from where the scepter hit.

"Blabbing."

"Now that you mention it," Asari mused, "Alaude-san is the only one who still has upper-wear."

"Any reason?" Knuckle queried.

"When it comes to Alaude, he's got an unpredictable temper if it comes to messing with something he might care about. So I try not to push it," Giotto responded, resting his cheek on his palm.

"Weakling," Daemon mocked.

"But… I like where you're going with this. Can we help?"

"Count me out!" G spoke up suddenly and held up his hands defensively in front of him. "I refuse to be subject to an early death brought upon by messing with a sociopath. Besides, think about it. He's the one cooking. Would you really want to mess with him?"

Knuckle and Asari chuckled awkwardly at the thought.

"How about this?" Giotto offered. "We offer you our unconditional support while you carry out the task."

"That's the same as not helping us," Daemon pointed out bluntly.

"Well, at least you know we have your back."

"Theoretically."

"Of course not, that would be unsupportive."

Daemon quirked his lips to the side as he looked back at his still smiling boss. Grabbing Lampo by the back of his collar, he turned and dragged the protesting man with him. For some odd reason, everyone looked at G once the pair's retreating figures were no longer visible.

"Don't look at me; I had nothing to do with this."

"Bet you 500 lira that they can't do it," Giotto laughed. (1)

"Bet _you_ 1000 that they succeed only to be chased down pitiably," G responded.

"That's surprising," Knuckle chuckled. "You have an unusually high amount of faith in them."

"No, I just have faith in the fact that Alaude will demolish them regardless of the outcome."

At the brook, Alaude sneezed for the third time. Eyeing the coat that lay next to him he frowned.

'_Maybe I shouldn't have taken it off so that I could wash the fish._'

His eyes returned to his work, there were only two more left clean. Noticing that his sleeves were sliding back down, he splashed his hands to clean them somewhat. Rolling the sleeves back up, he brushed some strands of hair away from his eyes. Once again, he proceeded to clean the remaining fish. Halfway through finishing the last fish, he felt the unusual feeling of someone watching him; however, he made no outwards signs to show that he noticed. Placing the last fish in the pile, he rinsed the blade and his hands and shook his hands expertly to rid himself of unnecessary water.

A rustle sounded behind him in the bushes. Alaude glanced back. Two dark figures came at him. He barely had the time to stand as he threw himself to the side. Water sprayed into his face as he looked up to see his attackers and his eyebrow rose, yet again, in mystification.

"Lampo …"

"How're you doing?" the green haired man strained both his laugh and smile.

"…and Daemon?"

"Yo," Daemon raised a hand in greeting, his face impassive.

Compared to Lampo, the illusionist was much luckier. When Alaude had darted to the side, the one thing that the partners-in-crime failed to consider was the fact that they could miss and fail. Since Lampo was the first of the two to charge, he ended up getting the full brunt of the fall and landed face first into the brook. Atop his splayed body, Daemon landed in an undignified manner but redeemed himself by shifting to sit comfortably on the other man's back.

"Is there a reason you charged at me?"

"Nope," Daemon continued. "Just felt like giving a running hug."

"Running hug?"

Alaude shifted his gaze slightly to look at a terrified Lampo who had been for the past few moments trying desperately to blend in with the moving water currents.

"And you?"

"I swear I had nothing to do with it! It was all Daemon's idea!"

"Thanks for bailing, brat."

Alaude shifted his gaze back and forth between the Lightning Guardian and the Mist Guardian. His confusion from earlier had given way to annoyance. Annoying things tended to make him angry. Stooping slightly he wrapped the cleaned fish in a new layer of foliage and the two men behind him took it as their opportunity to stand and get out of the brook.

Pushing the bundle into Lampo's arms, Alaude said disinterestedly, "I'll give you the benefit of the doubt this once. Take this back to the others while I deal with this thing here."

Lampo nodded quickly and scurried away as fast as he could. Alaude on a demon's rage was to be avoided at all costs. Forfeiting a partner in crime was just a mild payment if it meant keeping the sanctity of his own existence. He never stopped running until he saw the flickers of orange-yellow light up ahead. The green haired man noted slightly that it was already getting dark. He had to warn the others of impending Alaude.

"Guys we have a problem! Alaude's going to murder Daemon for trying to push him into the brook," he finished breathlessly.

"Sweet, you owe me 1000 lira."

Lampo eyes widened at the blasé attitude that the others digested the information. Betting was the last thing he expected. The others looked up to him thoughtfully.

"Did your plan work?" Asari asked innocently.

"Not really. We missed and landed in the brook instead. I think Alaude's just venting pent up frustration."

"Nope, you owe _me_ 500 lira."

"But Alaude's still chasing them, so technically I'm still right."

"Tell you what, we pool our money together and split it evenly."

"I'm not falling for that one again. Nice try" G replied.

"Too late you agreed to it"

"Since when?"

"People!" Lampo cried out. "Someone is getting murdered as we speak! Are we not going to do something about it?"

The four men glanced at each other…and shrugged.

"It's Daemon."

"He'll be fine"

"A little workout to the death never killed anyone."

"Amen, child."

"By the way," Giotto added, "pass us the fish. We might as well cook it while we're waiting for them to come back."

"I can't believe it. And you say _I'm_ the lazy one."

Not too long after all the fish had been skewered and placed enticingly over the flames, a clashing of metal on metal could be heard coupled with the violent cracklings of plant life caught in destructive battle.

"Oh, here they come!"

As if on cue, the two figures burst forth from the darkness of the woods. If the others had not been so alarmed at their appearance, they would have realized the comical quality of the fight. Daemon was defending himself with his scepter against Alaude who was striking repeatedly with a pair of handcuffs. At that moment a second pair was retrieved from his pocket. Alaude clamped the two open loops onto the scepter, and wrenched the defensive weapon from Daemon who fell back from the force.

"Not that I like to be defenseless, but why did it take you this long to think of that?"

"I was biding my time"

"You didn't think of it, did you?"

"Tonight, I kill you."

"Hold up a second!" The two men looked up to see their fellow Guardians standing.

"Why?"

"Isn't killing him very tiring?" Asari tried.

"Not at all."

"I thought you didn't like making messes?" Knuckle added.

"I'll make an exception this time."

"Need help?" G asked holding up Asari's other short sword.

"G!" The others all clamored and worked to sit on him lest he do more damage.

"Alaude," Giotto ventured amiably, "don't kill him on an empty stomach. Let's eat dinner first and then we can consider organized murder."

"Hn."

**An Hour or so Afterwards:**

"That meal didn't taste so bad after all!"

Alaude frowned slightly, "What were you expecting?"

"Honestly?" Daemon smirked, "I thought you'd poison it."

"Well, I can always arrange that for you."

"You guys can't seem to stop with the death threats, huh?" Asari sighed.

"They're not threats, Asari," G corrected, "they're promises."

"What pity," Knuckle lamented out loud, "It seems as though all my attempts to inspire safe arguing has been clean forgotten."

"Uh Knuckle," Giotto cut in, "I think it caused more damage than you think."

"Really?"

The rest of the gang chose to remain silent at that particular moment. None wanted to answer in full honesty but none wanted to blatantly lie either. It just seemed too cruel. Unanimously, they mentally decided that it would be better to let the priest remain in his happy world a little while longer.

"You know what?" Giotto said suddenly. "In order to commemorate our family's mountain bon—I mean training time, let's name this place."

"Giotto," G started, "you don't just _name_ mountains. People, okay. Pets? Sure. But _mountains_?"

"Let's call it Death Mountain," Daemon piped up suddenly.

"Oh, not you too!"

"But, it's not really deadly," Lampo mused lazily.

"Sure was to me," Daemon responded, annoyed.

"Daemon, that's not a good thing," Knuckle said, looking quite disturbed.

"Why don't we name it that?" Alaude asked. "That way, I can always remember it as the day I destroyed the illusionist."

"No. You can remember it as the day you _almost_ destroyed the illusionist."

"I just haven't fulfilled my promise yet."

"So…. What you're all saying is that only brave souls will venture in here as a result." Asari pondered aloud. "Those who do come will be able to prove themselves worthy of inheriting the legacy of the mountain, right?"

"What legacy?"

(Badger, Badger, Badger, Badger, Mushroom, Mushroom…)

KitsuneFreak: You cannot believe how happy I was to be able to finish this chapter. The legion of exams was killing me and all my ideas had to be stowed away in the dark recesses of my mind. I was so happy that I made this chapter extra long! Sorry if it was disjointed, I typed in 10minute intervals over the course of many days.

(1) If you didn't know already, the lira had been swapped over for the euro and the exchange rate was hard to find (no surprise there). So in loving admiration of the origin of Hitman Reborn, I set the imaginary exchange rate of lira to be equal to that of Japanese yen. That's roughly 100 yen per dollar and I'm rounding off very generously by the way.

For those who haven't done so already, I recommend story-alerting any of my ongoing stories mostly because I cannot guarantee any predictable posting rhythm.

I hope you enjoyed the chapter~!

R&R!


	8. Are you SURE that's even Legal?

KitsuneFreak: Okay, I have this little tiny incy wincy blurb. I'm a little ticked off, shall we say, of people who do little other than review for the purposes of cursing me out due to lateness in posting. Um, can we all agree on the fact that I don't live in a dark basement with nothing other than laptop and anime? I _do _have a life to live, a school to graduate, and sunshine. Yes, the laptop monitor is a poor excuse for sunlight and I do not sparkle like 'vampires'. I've stayed away from FF for about 5 years to _live_ a life and decided to return on free time. That having been said, such reviews tempt me to just stop writing altogether. Granted, I won't do that because that's horribly unfair to people who are waiting patiently. Oh and if you're one of those people, then at least have the gall to sign in. Anonymity is a poor mask to wear. Try writing two lengthy ongoing stories averaging 4000 words per chapter while keeping in mind the grammar. Then come back and call me a "scumbag" for being slow. Che, the heck do you mean "_your_" update.

If it makes you feel better, I could always post 100 word entries in chat-speak…

_Anyway_, this chapter will lean on Alaude more. Although it felt like obsession when I was typing it… My story's nonexistent plot is shifting again. It went from the start of the Vongola, to the design of the crest and then the emergence of the DW bullet. Now somehow it's transformed into the 1st Gen's daily lives among other "first times the Vongola…"

…. Don't go there. I know some of your dirty minds went down the gutter just now… Still, so long as you get an enjoyable chapter, I guess we're all happy.

Disclaimer: If it were mine, I'd sick Uri and Natsu on anyone who disagreed…

{Badger, Badger, Badger, Badger, Mushroom, Mushroom…}

"I didn't even fling the cigarette butt anywhere near his general direction this time!"

"True, but you did try to punch him."

"Well, I didn't know that 'striking someone with a fist' is considered a felony. If I knew that I would have slapped him."

Giotto blinked a couple of times as he realized how this conversation was turning out. Once again, on the oddest of moments Giotto found himself having a 'normal' conversation with G. Then again, considering their situation, they could have had nothing short of a civil chat.

G was the first to suffer Alaude's wrath… as usual. After G lost the initial skirmish, Alaude only saw it fitting that he handcuff G to one of the open square handles of the library door. For the next hour or so, G was torn between yelling for help and saving the last shreds of his dignity that was lost already (he failed to assess this particular detail) due to the fact that he was unceremoniously detained in addition to the method of detainment. Ultimately, G chose to remain silent and tried to tug himself off. His handgun was of no use to him primarily because Alaude made a point in removing it and placing it on the table behind him. Next to the gun were the Primo's gloves. He too, at some point, was dragged down in a semi-conscious state and cuffed to the doors of the library.

For the past couple of moments, G had been debating on whether or not he should ask his beloved boss what exactly happened. It wasn't actually any of his business. Not at all. Really. But then again, curiosity got the better of him.

"So," G started, trying to strike up another conversation, "you never actually told me why _you're_ here."

"I got on his bad side."

"Evidently."

"Yes, indeed"

"Ah, keep going. Didn't mean to interrupt," G added, as though talking about the weather.

"Well, I didn't think that he'd be so irritated if I used his coffee grains to brew a cup," Giotto sheepishly replied. He would have run his hand through the back of his head but instead he was forced to give a little tug at his set of handcuffs that latched him onto the other handle of the door.

"That can't be it."

"…and I happened to knock over his mug?"

"It shattered, huh?"

"Good guess." The Primo boss frowned. "I wish I could have better appealed to his good side."

"Does he even have a good side?" G asked quirking his eyebrow.

"Oh, I'm sure he does. We just see it every once in a blue moon or so. Or maybe when he's cooking."

"I'd think that he'd be deadlier when cooking."

"Why's that?"

"I mean seriously, he would have the cutlery at his disposal, not to mention knives, pots, and pans. You know, thyme and mint could serve as weapons too, knowing Alaude. Although, that's probably something that I'll have recurring nightmares about."

"Good point," Giotto said slowly, mulling over the idea.

"Still, he at least should be a little more considerate of us." G kicked the door a little forcefully. "We've been standing here for about two hours now. Chairs would have been nice."

"Yeah, and he locked the doors too!" Giotto added, pulling forcefully.

Silence passed as the two men stared at the oak doors that taunted them. Both had been very earnest in coordinating their movements and pulling on the doors, but to no avail. It just would not open. Both heaved identical sighs.

Looking over to G, Giotto asked, "So you want to share more life stories?"

Staring back at his boss, G mulled over the thought. "Yeah sure, why not. It's not like we can do much else. Although… I don't know what else we could share, we _are_ childhood friends."

However, before any pouring of the hearts could even start, echoing footsteps piqued their ears.

"Wait, do you hear that G?"

"The footsteps? Yeah."

The two men stared at each other for what seemed to be the longest time. In reality, they were relaying messages telepathically, if they could. It was the manliest moment they ever shared between them. To be truthful, it was the look that promised eternal triumph, trust, dignity, wishful thinking, ability, and hope among other positive qualities.

"Screw dignity," they both agreed out loud.

Except for that one.

"Help!"

"Let us out of here!"

"Help!"

"Alaude locked us in!"

"Help!"

"And cuffed us to the door!"

"Help!"

"God dangit Giotto, think of something better to say!"

"He—" Giotto paused, "Um,…Tasukete!"

G stopped pulling at the door for a moment. "The heck does that mean?"

"…"

"_Giotto_?"

G had a really bad feeling that it would have bee—

"'Help' in Japanese?" Giotto blinked back owlishly.

—And really wished his gun was in arm's reach at this point.

**On the Other Side of the Door:**

Knuckle and Asari had been wandering through the halls wondering where Lampo was. Both men sought him for very different reasons. The priest wanted to lecture him about the evils of indolence and the swordsman only wanted to ask if the green-haired man was willing to play a game of shougi with him. With Giotto missing, Lampo was the only other person that had the time to properly learn how to play the Japanese chess game and made quite a formidable adversary.

"_Help!_"

The two amiable Guardians froze and looked at each other quickly.

"I'm not the only person who heard that right, Knuckle-san?"

"Indeed, something odd seems to be stirring."

"Where do you think it's coming from?"

Knuckle looked around for a moment and spied the tall smooth doors that would have led to the library. It rattled slightly, and from the looks of it, someone was pulling at the door from the inside.

"Is it from there?"

Laying a hand on the hilt of his sword, Asari replied, "Let's see."

Approaching the door cautiously, the rattling grew more apparent. A barely audible and muffled, "Alaude locked us in!" filtered out.

"Doesn't that sound like G's voice?" Asari asked, looking back at the priest.

"Yes…but, Asari?"

"Yeah?"

"That door—"

"Indeed."

"and Alaude couldn't have—"

"—most definitely."

"So it means that they're—"

"Exactly."

Another silence passed.

"You know we could always…" Asari started.

"… leave them there?" Knuckle finished. "Alaude probably had a good reason, right?"

"Who knows?"

Both heaved tremendous sighs and shook their heads as they stared at the doors in front of them. Knuckle readjusted his red sash more comfortably around his neck while Asari tucked his sword neatly into the folds of his robe. They brushed off invisible specks of dirt from their clothing before daring to look each other in the eye again. The rattling had stopped by this point.

"Wonder what's making the rattling sound," Knuckle asked curiously to no one in particular.

"Well, I guess that means that we should help them out by now, huh?" Asari asked tentatively.

"Amen, my friend."

Simultaneously, both Knuckle and Asari pulled against the handles of the double doors. There was a split second when both G and Giotto bore completely perplexed looks as the two doors seemingly flew away from them.

"What the—" Giotto was pulled off in the direction of his particular door handle.

"Oh my –" and G stumbled in suit in the opposite direction.

Knuckle crinkled his nose at G's impending curse and hovered above the Storm Guardian's bent form before complaining, "G, how many times have I told you to stop using God's name in vain?"

"I didn't!" G retorted, twisting his head slightly to look up.

"_Now_ you didn't. I successfully stopped you."

"Oh shut up."

Nodding to himself Knuckle muttered to himself, "At least better than Daemon in that respect."

Throwing Knuckle a dirty look, G used the devilish door to support himself back into the proper standing position.

"Giotto-san?" Asari peered around the side of the door that he pulled open, "Are you alright over there?"

The Primo boss, despite suffering from fewer verbal attacks from the resident priest, was in a less dignified position compared to his right hand man. Needless to say, hanging by a set of cuffs onto a door handle was not befitting of a mafia boss. Scrambling quickly back to a standing position, Giotto cleared his throat, hoping to ease the awkwardness.

"Um," the young boss started, "The door opens outward?"

"Yes," Asari answered, chuckling. "It always has been."

"Oh, so it wasn't…"

"…locked?" Asari finished, still smiling.

"Actually," Knuckle continued, his eyes also gleaming with mirth, "it's impossible to lock the doors. Notice there's no key hole."

"But the han—"

And that was the last straw for the priest before he burst out in a fit of laughter. Asari fell back into chuckling while G thudded his head repeatedly against the door he was cuffed to and Giotto colored a strangely bright shade of red.

"_Alaude_!"

**Somewhere Far From the Library but Unusually Close to the Gardens:**

Alaude smirked as he lowered his hand closer to the purple morning glories, "One more step, and the flower gets it."

Daemon looked on in barely masked horror, "You're bluffing."

"Try me."

"No," Daemon uttered, "You wouldn't dare harm such a litt—."

"Wait, guys, how did we get here again?" Lampo asked out loud.

"Shut up brat, you're interrupting my monologue."

Lampo could only stare on and scratch his head at this awkward debacle. It wasn't everyday that arch nemeses Daemon Spade and Alaude could be found threatening each other with the demise of several innocent looking flowers.

"As I was saying…" Daemon cleared his throat and continued dramatically. "Not my glory! How underhanded of you, Alaude."

Actually, it only served as a viable threat to Daemon Spade. Alaude could care less. He was the one doing the threatening, after all.

"You know," Lampo offered, "you could always grow them some other time."

"And _waste_ my current effort on them? _Never_."

"Well?" Alaude asked with a bored look. "Giving in yet?"

"I'm still not going to take back my comments on your weapons."

Alaude's hand lowered ever so slightly, brushing against the tips of the purple petals. Daemon eyed the proximity between the hand and the petal. It was getting dangerously close.

"I'll ask again."

"Look Alau, your—"

"Alaude," the Cloud Guardian corrected, his eye twitching slightly in annoyance.

"Right, Alaude, whatever," Daemon waved off. "Like I said yesterday, handcuffs are lame. Really lame."

Putting his hands out, palms facing upwards, he emphasized, "I mean, if we're out battling and it's intense and whatnot, what are you going to do? Cuff me?"

'_I'm currently considering on tying you down to an uncomfortable rock and burning each and every last of your flowers one by one petal-by-petal before your eyes… But I digress…_' Alaude mused to himself.

"Alright," Alaude smirked. He'll just humor the Mist Guardian for a moment. "What do you propose?"

"Well…" Daemon paused to think a moment. Alaude was going to really listen to his awe-inspiring advice for once? What a change!

"Uh, Daemon," Lampo piped up suddenly. "Do _not_ answer that."

"It couldn't hurt, could it?"

"No I'm serious. Answering that is death. Literally."

'_Dang._' Daemon realized. '_The brat's right for once. I can't give Alaude information. But… I may never get this opportunity again. Oh, which do value more? My life or my pride?_'

"Choose to live! I don't want to die, especially not with you!" Lampo yelled out fearfully, not knowing how on track his mind was to Daemon's.

Looking over his shoulder at Lampo, Daemon continued his musing out loud, "Yes, but… I mean, _pride_, against Alaude no less!"

"You're seriously considering on throwing away your life for this?" Lampo deadpanned.

"It did cross my mind a couple of times."

"Do it on your own time. I, for one, like living."

"So do I."

"Rather doubt it, Daemon."

"_Mist_ Guardian to you, brat. Is that so hard to ask?"

"Yes."

Alaude cleared his throat loudly to regain the attention back onto himself. He did not like being ignored in any way shape or form. Besides, it was high time to show off what he spent an entire evening preparing.

But suddenly, they were interrupted again as voices could be overheard, coming in their direction. Rather loudly, too.

"Okay, so how was I supposed to know? The handles were on my side. Handles mean 'pull here'. Why would I have even considered pushing?"

"Calm yourself. There are handles on both sides."

"Who designed this place anyway?"

"_You_ did, Giotto-san."

Silence.

"Aw crap, seriously?"

"Giotto, it's called thinking out of the box. We fail at that apparently."

"It's unconventional."

"Accept it already."

"Um guys?" Asari started uneasily.

"Children!"

"Yes?" Both Giotto and G simultaneously replied to the Sun Guardian.

"Please act like the adults that I know you are."

"Oh alright…" Giotto pouted. G only snorted in response.

The four men finally came into the line of sight of the troublesome trio.

"Fine then," Giotto started up suddenly. "In order to make myself feel better, I will blame this entire fiasco on Ala—"

The rest of the words died upon the young boss' lips as he saw said scapegoat looming ahead.

"You were saying?" Alaude glowered from his flowery vantage point.

"I was saying that… umm… I blame Daemon for everything… because…it's umm… usually his fault?"

"Good boy."

"That's not good!" Daemon countered, looking quite distraught and very much betrayed. "I am an absolutely guiltless individual oppressed so cruelly."

"Shut it, you've probably done worse things that you let on," G said, idly striking up a match to light a cigarette.

"I'd never!"

"Not that I'd want to know what that weirdo does in his free time."

"The weirdo has a name you know"

"Alaude, did you hear something?"

"Nope, not at all."

"Hey!"

"Ah, sweet silence," G sighed, blowing out a stream of smoke.

"So Alau?" Daemon cleared his throat, attempting to change the subject.

"Daemon, for the last time, it's _Alaude_," the Cloud Guardian muttered through gritted teeth.

"Right, can we get back on topic?"

"You mean the surprise?"

"What surprise?" Lampo asked suddenly, his interest suddenly awakened by the possibility of something entertaining.

"Well, Daemon was so kind as to inspire me," Alaude started.

Giotto's hyper intuition started sending out warning flags. Following through with his gut feeling, he shifted backwards slightly and tensed his body just in case _something_ went off.

"And so," Alaude continued, "I decided to embellish upon my current weapon."

"You did what?" Lampo's voice rose several octaves higher with just three simple words.

"I believe this is the final design."

With that final phrase, Alaude fished out a single set of handcuffs from his pocket and held it out for the rest of them to see.

"But Alaude-san, it looks just like all your other ones," Asari tilted his head to the side in confusion.

"Amen, what's the special quality it has?"

"Guys," Giotto started tentatively, "I think we should run now."

Alaude didn't even bother to respond to his fellow Guardians. He just clicked the handcuff open slightly and with it, every centimeter of rounded edge sprouted numerous spikes beyond any realm of normalcy.

"How did you…" Daemon's voice trailed off as his attention became mesmerized in trying to figure out just how exactly the Cloud Guardian managed to fit – or rather hide – so many spikes in such a small handcuff.

"Skill."

"What are you planning on doing with that?" Giotto asked cautiously, edging backwards yet again.

"Well, I haven't tested out the efficiency of this weapon."

The rest of the Guardians gulped, praying for some kind of holy intervention.

"I thought it would be nice to try it out first, what do you think?" Alaude commented with an evil smirk. At the same time, he advanced forward in increasingly large steps.

"How lovely," Lampo responded fearfully. He was the first to about-face and break out into a run. He was followed within seconds by the rest of the Guardians.

Sadly, this included a newly supplied Cloud Guardian.

"Are you sure that's even legal?" G yelled at the top of his lungs, grappling onto Lampo and using him as a springboard to add the greatest amount of distance between the victims and the pursuer.

"Doesn't matter when _I_ make the rules."

{Badger, Badger, Badger, Mushroom, Mushroom…}

KitsuneFreak: I'm not sure where I headed with this. I wanted it to be Alaude centric, but I wanted to pull a "first time" quality to it so I tweaked it to explain the origin of the 10th Gen box weapon attributes. Hope it made you smile!

Requests for other Vongola traditions/etc. are still open. My current goal is to get down all the origins of the box weapons. If it's something like, what was it? The Tanabata (?) festival, can you please give a small blurb on what it is? That would be nice. Giotto's cape is my theme for the next chapter.

Don't forget to R&R!


	9. When Plotting Goes Awry Part 1

KitsuneFreak: You know how in Mulan there's Mushu when he's comes to life with a ferocious "I LIVE~!"

Yeah, feeling like that right now.

And I'm also crying internally at the progression of the manga. It's really screwing with the plot that I had originally wanted TART to follow. I have to be creative to make it work again (head-desk).

Oh, and _don't_ get me started on how many hair-jokes I can crack right now about Mukuro's body / Daemon Spade. It's totally going to work with this eccentric chapter.

Disclaimer: Oh look, CAPES! 'Nuff said.

{Badger, Badger, Badger, Badger, Mushroom, Mushroom…}

"Take it off."

"No."

"Now."

"No!"

"Strip for goodness sake!"

"What!"

_Okay, maybe not the best choice in words._

"Alright then…. Take the cape off, you do not need it."

"It's a mantle, no, and no."

"Giotto, we are _indoors_."

"I know!"

G blinked and shook his head for a moment as he registered the different meaning of the same pronounced syllable. For the past three hours, the right hand man found himself musing over the ridiculousness of his best-friend-and-mafia-boss's strange habit of always keeping his ca—no, _mantle_ on. However, no amount of nagging, ordering, or begging could detach the parasitic cloth from its host. G would have considered giving up altogether but the mantle … it _bothered_ him. It gave off a very distinct aura that G could not yet place the origin of despite its insidious familiarity. However, the redhead was very much sure of the fact that when he did find that source, he will inevitably cock a gun to it.

"Giotto, please tell me," G sighed in exasperation, "as your friend, I should at least know why you always wear that."

"I like it."

"Yes, but _everywhere_," G stared pointedly at the back of the cape.

"I really like it?" Giotto answered with an innocent look.

"Even to _bed_," G said through gritted teeth.

"Well I thou—wait, what? How'd you figure that out?"

Giotto suddenly became very worried about the almost mother-hen nature G was developing. Was he taking stalki—no wait, _monitoring_ lessons from Alaude? Oh no, that would be very, _very_ bad. What will be next? Asari eavesdropping like Daemon? Knuckle laughing maniacally like Daemon? Lampo lazing around and shirking work like Daemon? No, the young noble did enough of that already.

Wait a second – why do all the worst case scenarios involve Daemon?

Probably because he's that much of a jerk who will attempt to screw over the Vongola family sometime in the future in a vague attempt at revenge. Giotto shook his head forcefully. No, it's not like that'll ever happen, right? He was simply over-thinking it.

"There are some down feathers clinging to the nape of the mantle," G answered nonchalantly. "And not to mention," G suddenly gave an intense glare, "you were shirking paperwork again since I saw you napping on the couch in your office. Based on that and your reaction – it's not too hard to guess."

Oh, never mind.

G was just being perceptive – as usual.

"Oh, right," Giotto let out an inaudible breath of relief. G didn't know the real reason – and that was always a good sign.

"Don't think I'm done trying to figure out what you're up to."

The young Vongola boss paled slightly, "_This is bad. I need to throw him off, quickly… somehow…_"

"H-hey, uh, G?"

"What?" G's eye twitched in annoyance.

"Do you mind if I take the rest of the day off? I mean it's only a stack or two, right?"

"Not like you did any work this morning," G muttered underneath his breath.

"What did you say?" Giotto asked, perplexed.

Throwing a wicked glare that sent shivers down Giotto's spine, G replied, "Well, even if I disagreed, you'd still probably get out of doing your job."

"So it's a yes then?" Giotto practically had sparkles in his eyes. The rising intent of murder was completely missed by the boss.

"I never sai—"

"Alright G! See you later!"

And without another second, Giotto was already sprinting down the hall, leaving G to stuff his hands into his pockets and slouch against the wall.

"Well, what do you think?" G shifted his eyes to look at the man who had been leaning to his right on the corner of the walled intersection in the hallway. Asari Ugetsu was not your average stalker. After all, he only did so when something bothered him or piqued his interest. The absence of Giotto's cape – or the lack thereof – definitely intrigued him. It was he who enlisted the aid of Vongola Storm Guardian to help him solve the dastardly mystery.

"Giotto-san is definitely hiding something," the Japanese man said with a suspicious glint in his eyes.

"Or he could just be trying to look cool one hundred percent of the time," G offered, staring at the ceiling.

"Now, why would he do that?" Asari asked, genuinely confused.

At this statement G's facial features contorted to a look of pure and utter disbelief. "Are you kidding me? What part of 'we're the nice guys in the mafia' sounds cool?"

"Hmm," Asari thought with a finger on his chin, "I always thought it was cool. What's wrong with it?"

Flabbergasted, G could not provide his mafia friend with a proper answer. Instead he just scoffed, and began to light a cigarette in frustration.

"You know that Giotto would rather you smoke outside, if you smoke at all."

"Stop reminding me, Asari."

"Hmm?" Asari looked back at G, perplexed. "I didn't say anything."

"What?" G looked back in surprise.

However, as the two were trying to figure out who the speaker was, the source presented itself in the form of Knuckle, Alaude, and Lampo.

"Like I said G," Knuckle began, "smoking is bad. It leaves a foul odor."

"Yeah, well, if I _don't_ smoke, I get a foul temper."

"Take one more breath of that and I will have you arrested for contaminating my breathing space."

"Alaude," Lampo whined, "We're breathing too, you know."

"Really?"

Everyone else just stared back at the stoic man – unsure of whether or not he made a genuine statement or actually cracked a joke. Either way, his facial features betrayed nothing. They all found that to be rather scary actually.

"Ahem," Knuckle cleared his throat, trying to end the silence that fell upon them. "So, what were you two up to?"

"Nothing much!" Asari answered with childish delight. "It's just that we were trying to solve a mystery."

"A mystery?" Lampo asked. "I'm bored enough; let's solve it so long as it doesn't involve actual dead spirits or fighting or dark places."

"You know," Alaude mused back, "that just about destroyed any chance for a real good mystery hunt to occur."

"How would you know, Alaude-san?"

"Trivial details – don't bother yourself with them," Alaude answered back, waving his hand.

And another awkward silence fell upon the occupants of the unusually empty hallway. One had to really wonder where the other mafioso henchmen were at a time of crisis such as this.

"Yes," Knuckle cleared his throat again. "You were saying about the mystery?"

'_Dear God, my throat is going to be hoarse at the rate I'm going._'

"Oh right!" Asari started again. "You're in luck Lampo! So the mystery is about Giotto's cape. Put simply, he never takes it off. And we—"

"_You_," G corrected.

"—were wondering why that is so."

"Isn't it because he's trying to always look cool?" Lampo offered.

"See? _Exactly_ what I said," G muttered in annoyance.

"It can't be that simple! Nothing ever is!"

"Why not? Life is much easier that way, I assure you."

"Remember when Daemon always—"

"No. I don't need more horror stories."

"You're no fun, G-san," Asari frowned.

"Either way," Lampo offered, "we just need to figure out the mystery behind the cape and we're good right? Plus we'll be amused for the rest of this day."

"Amen to that. Today was going awfully slowly."

"Alright," Asari called out cheerfully, "Let's proceed with Mission Cape Off!"

"It's a _mantle_," G offered back frowning glumly.

"Hai hai, whatever you say captain!" Asari saluted his comrade good-naturedly.

Together, the five of them went trailing in the direction that Giotto had run away. Nevertheless, the daunting idea of finding their boss in a maze of mansion did not faze them at all. Alaude had already begun writing up a list of probable hiding locations that Giotto might have taken. Lampo amused himself with counting the floor tiles as he walked. Knuckle and Asari were wondering out loud what Giotto could be hiding with his mantle. And of course, G fumed away in his little corner wondering who he had angered in his past life to be landed with such an eccentric group.

Meanwhile, in one of the Vongola Guardians' vast game rooms, Daemon Spade was utilizing his scepter as a makeshift billiards cue stick. His form was graceful and poised for the attack. He mentally calculated the distance between his target and the cue ball. When all the stars aligned he released th—.

"You know, if you're not going to use the cue stick, odds are, it won't work."

In an instant, Daemon's arm tensed up when it shouldn't have and the perfect hit of his scepter on the target just ricocheted slightly, but enough so to royally mess up whatever hopes he had of making a faultless hit. As all his billiard dreams crumbled to ash before him, Daemon's eye twitched at the spherical carnage. Turning, he planned on giving his interrupter a serious load of his anger along with some head trauma.

"Do you know just what exactly you destroyed?" Daemon's voice rose with each word.

"A triangular array of billiard balls?" the Vongola boss offered sweetly.

"A masterpiece! In the form of creating the perfect dynamic of cue stick hitting a cue ball which in turn chooses to knock its brethren from their humble and triangular abode. Not the mention the glory that I, Daemon Spade, will have had, knowing that it was I who created such a masterpiece. The stars may never align again to allow me to crea—"

"Daemon," Giotto sighed in exasperation, "You're doing it again."

"Doing what?"

"That whole tirade. I was getting worried for a second that you might forget to breathe."

"I am an aristocrat."

"Yes and how does that work?"

"I _always_ breathe."  
"…Right… understood. I—uh, I will never question your … breaths, ever again."

"Good."

With a loud huff, Daemon made his way to the door, but not without taking a good swing at his boss. Luckily for Giotto, he managed to duck his way out of a concussion. However, the Mist Guardian was inevitably disappointed at his miss from point blank.

"By the way, I'd watch my back if I were you. I _will_ have what is mine."

"Your fault for leaving it unattended," Giotto called out behind Daemon.

Once the illusionist left, Giotto let out a sigh, "Oh boy, he still hasn't forgotten has he? This is going to be a slight problem. Well, I better get what I came here for."

As Giotto rummaged around for his new-fangled toy to test out, outside was a slightly different story.

"All these lengthy weeks of planning," Daemon bit the nail of his thumb. "It had better pay off."

Daemon had been foiled at least twenty-three times before. He ultimately figured that luck lay in the beautiful harmony of the two and the four put together. The secret that he had kept for so long was the pure and simple fact that Giotto's much envied mantle, once belonged to none other than Daemon Spade. Prior to joining the Vongola, the illusionist of an aristocrat meddled in the fashion world. His mantle was among his most highly prized possessions. Simple braided designs and golden clasps to keep the folds together. Who else could have custom crafted the mantle to be capable of riding on even shoulders and reach knee length? Granted, Giotto's vertical challenge is the sole reason that the mantle glides, barely touching the ground.

On that fateful day, Daemon decided to go for a lengthy morning walk in the gardens on his first day of being initiated into the vigilante group. He wanted nothing more than to explore this new territory which he would soon call home. Little did he know that when he came back, the mantle that lay peacefully draped over chair was gone. Hours later, during the 'family' dinner, it made its sudden reappearance – on the back of his vigilante-team-leader-current-family-boss, Giotto.

A man's pride is a terrifying thing. From that moment on, Daemon chose to steal the mantle back rather than prattle away about the injustices that came with his job. The Mist Illusionist, himself, was secretly petrified to look back on the issue for the simple fear that his past twenty-three attempts were all in vain when he could have easily solved the problem in less time by informing the 'proper authorities' of the theft – namely Alaude. But then, what was a man without his sense of pride?

Weekdays were often reserved for extensive planning and weekends were the moments to execute his plans. To date, there have been twenty-three attempts. Note that this was also the reason why Giotto figured that it would be a better idea to sleep without taking his mantle off.

"Today," Daemon muttered to himself. "Surely today, I will have back what is rightfully mine!"

"Yours? Your what? What is yours, Daemon-san?"

'_Oh crap. If Asari finds out, then there's absolutely __**no**__ way it's going to stay a secret._'

"Why my dear companion, Asari, I am merely speaking of … the… m-my… my monocles."

"Mono—cles? What are they?"

"They are similar to glasses, actually," Knuckle answered. "Except they're only for one eye."

"Interesting European contraption, what about the other eye?"

"It doesn't exist," G grumbled. "What is a freak like you doing here, prowling in the hallway?"

"Plotting a way to retake my monocles."

"From whom?" Alaude asked suddenly.

"Giotto."

Silence fell upon all the occupants of the hall as they pondered the reliability of the named accusation. It didn't seem possible. Then again, Daemon probably had some seriously spiffy monocles that would tempt anyone to steal it. And Giotto liked spiffy things. In one moment of weakness it may tip the balance. Thus, the true question became:

Would Giotto really go out of his way to steal monocles that belonged to Daemon Spade?

"Yeah 'kay what's the plan," the other men simultaneously asked Daemon.

"Wait a second," Daemon threw his hands up in front of him, as though afraid it was all a silly joke. "You guys are willing to help me? This is new."

"Well, if we help you we could potentially get what we want," Lampo answered slowly.

"Which is?" Daemon's eyebrow was raised in mystification.

"His cape."

"_What_."

Daemon couldn't have these five fools land their hands on his cape. Even if he wanted help to find his monocles—

"Wait a second," Daemon thought, "I don't even _own_ monocles."

Even if Daemon wanted fake help to find his 'monocles', he had to throw these dogs off the scent with a really good red herring.

"Why Giotto's cape? Go solve bigger problems, bigger mysteries. I assure you it will bring you greater satisfaction."

"I thought you wanted help?" Alaude asked pointedly.

"Me? No, never. I'm always fine."

"But you just said—" G started, only to be cut off by his arch nemesis.

"What's so secretive about your name anyway? Hmm?" Daemon questioned with a quizzical look, twirling his scepter.

"I told you before, and I'll tell you again, it's just G."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"Does it stand for something?"

"No."

"What about—"

"Lay off already!"

"Give it a rest my friend, before he actually has a reason to go to confession" Knuckle attempted to calm the situation before anything got shot – most likely Daemon's skull.

"I wouldn't go to confession, I'd proclaim his demise to the world Knuckle."

"That's kind of mean, G" Lampo frowned.

"I'd agree with him actually," Alaude mused out loud.

"Alaude-san! You're violent!"

"There's a surprise," G glowered.

"Oh, I know!" the Mist illusionist lightly smacked his open palm in inspiration. "You're parents probably thought you were a girl and named you before you were born. I bet it was something really amusing."

"Huh?" was G's only eloquent answer. For good measure his eyes widened at the sheer stupidity of the idea.

"He kind of has a point you know. It's not unlikely for parents to name their children early," Lampo added. The edges of his mouth began to curve upwards as the situation changed towards the entertaining. Out of the corner of his eyes, the green haired man also caught Asari and Knuckle biting back their laughter, albeit with some difficulty.

"Hmmm…. Would you be a Gabriella? Or a Gertrude?"

"Shut up!"

"Gertrude. Definitely a Gertrude."

At this point, the other three men burst out it fits of laughter as they were incapable of containing their mirth. It wasn't too long before they were trying to wipe stray tears from their eyes from all that laughing. On the other hand, G was positively red-faced although none of them could tell whether it was as a result of anger or embarrassment. Or a mixture of both.

Oh wait. G's holding a gun that's pointed at Daemon.

"It seems that I have angered you," Daemon stared up at the barrel that was now aimed at his forehead.

"No. Really?" G commented sarcastically through gritted teeth.

The situation was tense as G was quite tempted to pull the trigger.

Daemon was considering if he should illusion a log to be shot in his place.

He then realized that he was indoors making it highly difficult.

"Hey G! I have something for you to try out!"

In a moment, Giotto found himself the center of attention as six pairs of eyes focused on him.

"Giotto, I know you're my friend and all but, _really_? Can't you see I'm busy?"

"Oh, is he trying to kill Daemon again?"

Alaude, Knuckle, Lampo, Asari and Daemon all nodded their head melancholically.

"Well," Giotto began, rolling his eyes, "this is more important!"

Giving a frustrated sigh, G gave one last glare at Daemon before returning the gun back into the holster at his back.

"Yes? What do you want?"

"It's this new expertise that you can dabble in."

Giotto then took out from the folds of his mantle and exquisitely crafted bow and a case of arrows. The base color of white was only interrupted by the maze of red flame-like shoots that covered the entire surface.

How he hid it under the mantle was a mystery that only Daemon knew the answer to.

"Hey, it matches you!" Asari laughed pointing one hand at the bow and the other to G's face.

"Shut it."

Throwing a menacing glare in the Japanese man's direction, G took the bow and arrow and tentatively fitted the arrow into the bow.

"I take this as my cue to leave," Daemon said as he darted away. "Farewell my friends."

Giving chase, G drew his arm back in order to ready himself to release the arrow.

"Stay still so I can hit you!"

"No can do!" Daemon sung back mischievously.

Meanwhile the others looked to a contentedly smiling Giotto and wondered what possessed him to entrust G with yet another weapon.

"So…" Knuckle started to ask. "Why did you give him a weapon? Isn't that going to give him the assumption that it's okay to kill Daemon?"

"Ah yes, but notice that a bow and arrow is a _ranged_ weapon. Plus he's using it for the first time."

"I still don't understand, won't he figure it out after a while?" Lampo asked.

"It buys time while he practices." Giotto answered back.

"Oh! I see!" Asari started, "If it's a ranged weapon, there is always the preference that he'd be a distance away from his target!"

"Plus it's likely that he'll miss," Alaude added curtly.

Not too long after there was an aggravated shriek of anger.

"Yeah he missed."

{Badger, Badger, Badger, Badger, Mushroom, Mushroom…}

KitsuneFreak: And there you have it folks~ Cape mystery _and_ G's archery somehow solved… although there are probably a billion more on the horizon.

Is anyone 'daw-ing' because of the family portrait in Daemon's pocket watch? Sure, he's probably demon-spawn from hell and all that but, I just…. Elena… It's too cute. It also begs the question, why is it out of all the men, he is the first to land himself with a chick? XD

Oh my, quite a number of you are up to date with your festivals, there was even a sweet darling over who posted up 2 descriptions of the Tanabata festival. Thank you all! It finally triggered a part of my memory that scolded me for forgetting because I am very familiar with the Chinese version of the story.

So pending chapter topics are: Box weapon origins and because so many people want it, the Tanabata festival (I see this as a _really_ good way for Elena and Cozart to cameo) 8D

Keep requesting! 

R&R!


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